Peter Paul Brennan is an independent Catholic bishop and retired Archbishop of the Ecumenical Catholic Diocese of the Americas (an "Independent Catholic Church"), a bishop of the African Orthodox Church, the Primate of the Order of Corporate Reunion, and the current President of Married Priests Now!. Although Brennan had previously been ordained - and conditionally reordained - as a bishop in other independent Catholic churches, in 2006 he was again ordained as a bishop, with several other married men, by Emmanuel Milingo, a Roman Catholic archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. As these ordinations were done without Papal authority, Milingo was excommunicated and was eventually also laicized.
Regarding Brennan's episcopal ordination by Milingo, the Vatican Press Office declared, in a carefully worded statement that "While expressing hope for their conversion, the Church reaffirms what was declared on 26 September 2006, namely that she does not recognize these ordinations, nor does she intend to recognize them, or any subsequent ordinations based on them, in the future. Hence the canonical status of the supposed bishops remains as it was prior to the ordination conferred by Archbishop Milingo." This denial of canonical status means that Brennan has no authority to exercise any ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. The Reverend Ciro Benedettini of the Holy See Press Office, who was responsible for publicly issuing the press conference communique on Milingo, told reporters that any ordinations that the excommunicated Milingo had performed prior to his laicization were "illicit but valid", while any subsequent ordinations would be invalid.
On June 11, 2011, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts issued a statement about illicitly ordained bishops, pointing out the canons which provide for an automatic latae sententiae excommunication for both the ordaining bishop and those ordained. Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Secretary of the Council, explained that the statement applied to the bishops ordained by Milingo as well as to more recent cases in the Chinese Patriotic Association.
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