[Cronos]

laicization and formal excommunication are two different things. the former is reserved to the Pope and is a long process with many steps. It may be done on the request of the priest for instance by a priest who wishes to leave and get married. According to published reports of which there are dozens of existing threads here, this priest did NOT choose to go that route but simply left without even, according to his bishop, asking or telling his superior of his decision.

[Cronos]

so, please stop the knee-jerk anti-Catholicism. The difference between what an anti-Catholic thinks the Church is all about and what the Church actually teaches is quite wide.

[TheDingoAteMyBaby]

My apologies, then. I was not familiar with the differences. So does he have any chance of returning to the RCC and keeping his wife?