Dear sinkspur,
Although it is unofficial, it is also at the request of the Vatican. But that's a red herring.
If an abortionist commits the heinous crime of abortion, and he had been a baptized Catholic, he automatically incurs excommunication. It requires no official pronouncement from the Vatican for the excommunication to have happened.
No declaration is needed.
If one were to send a dubium to Rome and ask, "Is Dr. So-and-so, notorious abortionist, excommunicated," it is unlikely that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger himself would respond and say, "Yes, of course he is excommunicated."
Why? Because it's clear, it's simple, and it's automatic. He'd send the dubium off to a trusted theologian, and say, "Here, this is relatively uncontroversial, low-level stuff. You write the answer. But remember, you're not the Curia, so your answer is unofficial."
And the theologian would reply as we've seen here.
No official pronouncement must be made in a case of automatic excommunication. As to the remedy, that's already in Canon Law - go talk to your bishop, repent, confess, be reconciled.
Now, as to recognizing that the automatic excommunication has taken place, certainly, one will expect Mr. Kerry to continue to lie about that, and his status as a Catholic.
But this is usually about as "official" as it gets with an automatic excommunication. It might eventually get kicked up a level or two, and an official pronouncement may eventually be made on it, or not.
But Canon Law operates here, without the need for any official pronouncement.
Mr. Kerry is an excommunicant.
Along with Chappaquiddick Ted, Olympia Snowe, Ahnold, George Pataki, and the rest of them.
sitetest
The theologian here, at the request of the Vatican, has
Kerry is excommunicated in the internal forum.
The external forum, for a public official, is another matter entirely. Balesteri, the original petitioner, wants a formal public excommunication, which he is simply not going to get.