Posted on 05/09/2007 10:59:36 AM PDT by presidio9
POPE Benedict today warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion.
It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries, including the US, Mexico, and Italy.
The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalise abortion in Mexico City.
“Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ,” he said.
“They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)”.
Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as “automatic excommunication” on themselves.
The Pope said parliamentarians who vote in favour of abortion have “doubts about the value of life and the beauty of life and even a doubt about the future”.
“Selfishness and fear are at the root of (pro-abortion) legislation,” he said.
“We in the Church have a great struggle to defend life...life is a gift not a threat.”
The Pope's comments appear to raise the stakes in the debate over whether Catholic politicians can support abortion or gay marriage and still consider themselves proper Catholics.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
There is no debate, only those who wish to redefine terms.
Good, but don’t see what is new about this.
The Pope’s comments appear to raise the stakes in the debate over whether Catholic politicians can support abortion or gay marriage and still consider themselves proper Catholics.
^^
I am still waiting to hear from the US bisops on this....
ping
Now I would ask the question of my fellow Americans; is not offering support to a political candidate who "knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin" such as abortion the equivalent to "knowingly" backing "something which the Church considers a grave sin"? The net result is the same for the unborn and complacency is as evil as complicity.
Abortion and homosexual "rights" are two areas in which Giuliani lost many votes.
You would be suprised how many people on this conservative website are not aware of the Church's official policy on pro-choice politicians, which was spelled out explicately by this pope when he was then Cardinal Ratzinger for Pope John Paul II.
Irrelevant. All bark and no bite. The Church came out in 2004 and said that no politician that was pro-choice could receive communion and the bishop of Boston responded that he would give it anyway. Yet he was never reprimanded. Canon is irrelevant without consequences. Show me a politician excommunicated then I may listen. Until then, the Pope has nothing but verbal banter, which is an insult to my Lord.
Excommunication is entirey symbolic. There are no guards at the back of the church checking membership cards.
I wonder if Rudy had stuck by his Catholic faith on issues such as abortion and gay marriage might he not have won the Republican primary?
Even if he did, I wonder if a pro gun-control candidate would be viable with Conservative voters.
Except, of course, rich ones. Nanny-Pee-Lousy, Kerry and the Kennedys will continue to march up the aisle on those rare Sundays that they attend mass.
LOL——great job.
Don't go to the trouble of mentioning Pelosi, Kerry & Kennedy without also pointing out Giuliani and Schwarzenegger.
When the ex-communicant passes on, they will see if it was only "symbolic" or not.
I was speaking from a political standpoint.
If the shoe fits...
Yes.
Actually, they excommunicate themselves, ipso facto, and I believe that was part of the Pope’s statement, not reported here.
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