Note: I'm not Catholic, but I attended Catholic high school *and* I've read the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church. *** Answer: The simple answer is: "Yes". Why? Because - at the simplest level of the matter - excommunication is intended to persuade the individual to repent of their error or sin and rejoin "the Church". So: an excommunicated individual could do exactly those things, and if they did, then (from the Catholic perspective) they would have just as good a chance of earning the eternal reward as any other Catholic in good standing. (Note: that was also generally true in the 12th century!) *** But I expect that what you mean is, "can a person still excommunicated at the time of death enter Heaven", and to that I answer: From the Catholic perspective, I think that would depend on WHY the individual was excommunicated. For example: excommunication CAN occur when a person commits a mortal sin - such as, for example, publicly rejecting Christianity and the salvation of Christ, or, for example, teaching that God does not exist. If the person does not repent of such a serious sin, then of course we (any Christian, not just Catholics) ought to expect that person shall "fail" the Final Judgment and not enter Heaven. *** But what if it's an excommunication due to teaching what "the Church" considers an error, or simple clerical disobedience? For example: what if a particular priest teaches (publicly) that it's OK to skip the Holy Days of Obligation? And he refuses to stop teaching that? Or what if a bishop (true story) marries a woman and continues to live with her - using church funds to support her and his ongoing marriage - in direct and repeated disobedience to his superior's instructions? In such cases we (I think) do NOT have MORTAL sin, and so I would expect that Catholics take the view that such a person COULD still be forgiven by God and enter Heaven.

In the 12th century, it was as much "folk lore" as it is today. An excommunication would be determined by people and people have a tendency to act from their own personal perspective. That would be hundreds of different people over the centuries in time. I don't believe that the "gates of heaven" operate on those people's say so.

No. John 3:13: "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man." This means that Adam never went to heaven when he died and Moses never went to heaven when he died - neither will you, I, or anyone who has been "excommunicated" go to heaven.

We can only speculate. God alone decides who gets in and who does not. Excommunication by the Church is done to persuade the believer into following the rules and regs of the Church. 11/14/22

It makes no difference what denomination one belongs to, it depends on do you believe in and have Jesus Christ as your Saviour. If Jesus Christ IS your Saviour then you will go to Heaven. If not then you will most likely go to Hell but the Lord God (Yahweh) is the final say so, not man.