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II EXCESSIVE PIETY ON THE PART OF SUPERIORS FAILS TO EXCLUDE FROM ORDERS THOSE WHO FALL IN THIS WAY It is true that those liable to this ruin frequently come to theirsenses through the generosity of divine mercy, make satisfaction, and even piously receive the burden of penance no matter how heavy; but they are utterly terrified of losing their ecclesiastical status.4 And some rectors of churches who are perhaps more humane in regard to this vice than is expedient absolutely decree that no one ought to be deposed from his order on account of three ofthe grades which wereenumerated above. They maintain that only those should be degraded who have clearly fallen into the ultimate act. Consequently, when someone is known to have fallen into this wickedness with eight or even ten other equally sordid men, we see him still remaining in his ecclesiastical position. Surely this impious piety does not cut off the wound but adds fuel to the fire. It does not prevent the bitterness of this illicit act when committed, but rather makes way for it to be committed freely. In fact, a carnal man in any order fears and is more terrified of being despised in the sight of men than of being condemned at the bar of the supreme Judge. And so he prefers bearing the hardship of any strict penance at any price to being subject to the risk of losing his rank. While he is not afraid of losing the state of his honour through indiscreet discretion, he is encouraged to presume on the untried and 4 Literally "ecclesiastical order." 30 Excessive Piety on the Part of Superiors 31 to remain for a long time in what he presumed against his will.5 I would say that as long as he is not borne away to where he will suffer more severely, he continues to wallow voluptuously in the pigsty of foul obscenity into which he had fallen earlier. 5 I am not sure what this sentence means. "The untried" seems to refer to remaining an ecclesiastic even after a serious sexual offence; "against his will" suggests that the presumption is more a result of the encouragement of lax superiors and of the offender's fears than of his informed choice. ...

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