Posted on 05/14/2007 4:07:51 PM PDT by wagglebee
The Vatican (LifeNews.com) -- Comments Pope Benedict XVI made last week about abortion and Catholic politicians are continuing to cause a stir around the globe. The pontiff told reporters during his plane ride to Brazil that Catholic politicians who back abortion have excommunicated themselves and shouldn't receive communion.
The pope followed up those comments during his speeches in Brazil, his first trip to Latin America, with more comments condemning abortion.
He continued to express the church's pro-life views in an address to Latin American bishops on Sunday, though he didn't reference the excommunication and communion comments.
He said laws that permit abortion and contraception are "threatening the future of peoples."
In reacting to the excommunication and communion remarks from last week, John Allen, author of several books on the Catholic Church, said the pope appears to have a personal view that is stronger than the official Catholic position.
"What seems to be clear is that the pope personally thinks that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should not receive communion," he told Reuters.
"This clearly emboldens bishops who have taken a hard line against Catholic pro-choice politicians, but it remains to be seen if there will be a disciplinary follow-through or whether individual bishops still decide who can receive communion," Allen added.
George Weigel -- senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington and leading U.S. Catholic theologian -- seemed to agree.
"Catholic politicians who think they can remain part of the church after supporting abortion are putting a lie on top of the original offense against justice," he said.
Meanwhile, Fidelis President Joseph Cella, a leading pro-life advocate, says his group is pleased with Pope Benedict's comments.
“We are deeply grateful to Pope Benedict for his comments on the Catholic legislators in Mexico City who voted to legalize abortion," Cella told LifeNews.com.
"The Holy Father’s message serves as a powerful teaching moment for all pro-abortion politicians, including those in the United States, especially those who are Catholic and running for President in 2008," he added.
He said those pro-abortion Catholic candidates -- including Senator Joe Biden, Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Chris Dodd, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Rudy Giuliani -- should "consider the larger message of Pope Benedict, and their obligation as Catholics to defend the sanctity of all human life."
It was Bernardin’s seamless garment program that provided the real cover. Somehow the killing of a few hundred thugs every year, in a country where the legal process could drag on for decades, was allowed to balance the summary execution of millions of children.
The ‘Seamless Garment’ came out of the whole ‘Social Justice’ movement, which was started to provide cover for those Democrat politicians who wanted to support abortion, but wanted to point to some other ‘social good’ to counteract that support. That’s when they started pointing to pro-life Republicans and discounting their being against abortion since they were not ‘for the poor’, since they didn’t support government programs to help those folks.
According to Church teaching, Rudy is not eligible to receive communion because he did not receive an annulment for his previous marriage.
His current marriage is not recognized, so he is considered to be in a state of grave sin.
Again...according to the teaching, those in a state of grave sin who do not repent and who do not reconcile with the Church are not eligible to receive communion.
Exactly. It’s just like those who say they’re Catholic but support a woman’s right to choose/support murder of a baby for whatever reason, or vote for politicians who support abortion., the whole Catholics for Choice nonsense. One is not a practicing Catholic if one supports the Choice/abortion and should not receive Communion.
I like Pope Benedict more and more.
A great day for the Pope! He has all the right enemies.
I agree. The basic problem was that so many bishops were raised in Democratic homes and were strong for the labor unions when they had been rule by the likes of George Meany. The bishops could not get through their heads that when the socialists took over the Democratic Party in 1972, and gladly embrached Roe v. Wade in 1973, that their place in the Democratic coalition had been lost. Ten years later they still hadn’t figured that they had lost the pols and that the pols had no use for them except the “cover” you mention. I am sure that when Reagan took the Catholic vote in 1984 they were shocked. That’s because the Protestant Reagan was more authentically “Catholic,” by far than the ultra-WASPish Monday.
The problem is, they've all excommunicated themselves. They are no longer part of the Catholic Church.
Like them or not, those are the rules of the church.
Rudy's "Mortal sin" is a public scandal. baa39 was not "condemning" anyone. baa39 didn't make the rules. The C[capital "C"]hurch says Rudy is living in moral sin.
If I were the Eucharistic Minister (now called Extraordinary for some reason)serving that Mass, according to the Mandation ceremony and oath I took, I’d have to deny them Communion if they were in my line. I pray that never happens since I’ve never had to do that yet during Mass. I have had to do that during my hospital duty (bringing Communion to those in the hospital) because they were NPO or told me they weren’t Catholic (or Greek Orthodox)or were in dementia. I’ve had quite a few non-Catholics tell me they weren’t Catholic and still begged me for Communion. We’re told to protect the Eucharist but also to do what Jesus in our heart tells us so I’ve given dying non-Catholics Communion (they’re not even supposed to be visited by us, the whole Hipaa thing, we have lists, but sometimes they still ask me if I’m giving it to their roommate, etc.).
I’d probably look to the Priest, or ask him, if Rudy or any public figure were in my line. I’d deny them Communion and direct them to the Priest’s line.
boy oh boy - that social justice mentality got to be real big in my home parish.
They kept referring to that seamless garment nonsense.
The ‘Seamless Garment’ idea is very popular in the Northeast where some Catholics truly don’t want to be lumped in with the ‘Religious Right”, because they consider anyone in that movement to be unsophisticated hicks or something. Now some Catholics who are even pro-life still have this attitude. Mainly, they are Democrats because their Mama and Daddy were, all the way back to whenever their families arrived in America. They are willing to just ignore what the Democrat party stands for today, and they hide behind the ‘Seamless Garment’ notion to put down Republicans for not being compassionate. That was one reason why the President pushed the ‘compassionate conservative’ idea, and he was successful among some Northeast Catholics who voted Republican for the first time in their lives.
As they should. He is another Great Pope, in terms of getting the right message across, even if he unfortunately presides over a heavily protestantized and bastardized Catholic Mass post Vatican II.
Yes...as I recall there was a traitorous priest who got elected to congress as a rat, from MA I think, who first came up with this treacherous thought. He either left the Church or was excommunicated, but a lot of our liberal bishops adopted his stance to give cover to their favored political party.
I don’t need to read anything. I go by what I was taught during the Mandating ceremony and the promises I made. After talking about this to priests in my parish, I’ll continue to adhere to their counsel. They know best imo.
My point was to convey that I would not, could not, give Communion to Rudy or any other high profile person who stated his views (because we all know those views unlike the ordinary person), pro abortion views, publicly. If he or Kerry or Kennedy or countless others happened to be at my parish church and in my line, I couldn’t give them Communion.
Are you an Extraordinary (formerly called Eucharistic) Minister at a Catholic parish in a Catholic Diocese? Are you mandated by the Diocese to give the Eucharist at Mass, to shut ins, and during hospital duty? Answer those questions and I may click your link and not view your reply as a snarky, uninformed reply by an uniformed person, who just wants to feel special by telling one she “needs to read something for starters”.
Hmmm...let's see... are you in Colorado or Nebraska?
Right, Rudi cannot receive the sacraments but he is still supposed to go to mass.
He was neither. Father Robert Drinan continued to be a Jesuit priest until his death earlier this year. As he aged he looked more like a wizened old demon every day. After his death, he was treated by the media as some sort of secular saint. It was disgusting.
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