Cardinal Raymond Burke, archbishop emeritus of St. Louis, MO, and prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura at the Vatican.
Posted on 09/23/2013 10:05:35 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Cardinal Raymond Burke, archbishop emeritus of St. Louis, MO, and prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura at the Vatican.
(CNSNews.com) -- Because of her longstanding support for abortion, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic, must be denied Communion under the law of the Catholic Church, said Cardinal Raymond Burke, head of the highest court at the Vatican.
Cardinal Burke referenced his remarks about Pelosi to Canon Law--the law governing the Catholic Church--and specifically Canon 915, which says those Catholics who obstinately persevere “in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
“Certainly this is a case when Canon 915 must be applied,” said Cardinal Burke in an interview reprinted on Sept. 5 in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly. “This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin--cooperating with the crime of procured abortion--and still professes to be a devout Catholic.”
“This is a prime example of what Blessed John Paul II referred to as the situation of Catholics who have divorced their faith from their public life and therefore are not serving their brothers and sisters in the way that they must--in safeguarding and promoting the life of the innocent and defenseless unborn, in safeguarding and promoting the integrity of marriage and the family,” said the cardinal.
In mid-June at a Capitol Hill press conference, Pelosi was asked if there is a moral difference between aborting a baby at 26 weeks and what Dr. Kermit Gosnell did in Philadelphia in delivering babies alive at 23 weeks and then severing their spinal cords to kill them?
Pelosi did not answer the question directly but said, “As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this. I don’t think it should have anything to do with politics, and that’s where you’re taking it and I’m not going there.”
It was in reference to that quote that Cardinal Burke was asked, “How are we to react to such a seemingly scandalous statement? Is this a case where Canon 915 might properly be applied?” Burke replied: “Certainly this is a case when Canon 915 must be applied.”
The cardinal went on to say: “What Congresswoman Pelosi is speaking of is not particular confessional beliefs or practices of the Catholic Church. It belongs to the natural moral law which is written on every human heart and which the Catholic Church obviously also teaches: that natural moral law which is so wonderfully illumined for us by Our Lord Jesus Christ by His saving teaching, but most of all by His Passion and death.”
“To say that these are simply questions of Catholic faith which have no part in politics is just false and wrong,” said Card. Burke. “I fear for Congresswoman Pelosi if she does not come to understand how gravely in error she is. I invite her to reflect upon the example of St. Thomas More who acted rightly in a similar situation even at the cost of his life.”
St. Thomas More (1478-1535) was Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII. When Henry VIII broke with Rome and declared himself head of the church in England, More refused to swear allegiance to the king’s Oath of Supremacy. As a result, Henry VIII had More beheaded. More’s last words were, “The king’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Pelosi has a long history of supporting abortion and and has a 100% rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
The Catechism further says: “From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a ‘criminal’ practice (GS 27 § 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life.”
So, just when is the last time the Pelosi attended Mass?
It’s not just Pelosi. If we had a good and moral electorate she would not even hold public office.
HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s about time!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Would the Pope consider Cardinal Burke’s comment and “obsession”?
I'm surprised the level of sheer vileness of most liberals these days does not cause them to burst into flames just walking down the street.
We must have the moral clarity to act. You’d not think twice about putting down a rabid dog, horror-bent terrorist or child killer - why the timidity to call a spade a spade?
“Let’s kill babies” cannot be Catholic, it certainly isn’t Christian.
Burke is correct and the Pope knows already before Burke made this public. At last!!!
>We must have the moral clarity to act.<
.
The act of excommunication is not mine to exercise — it is up to the Church to make that decision.
I do not have that power and I cannot even request the excommunication of a person who, in my opinion, deserves to be excommunicated. The Church is not a democracy and I am glad it isn’t.
Can you just imagine a long line of people standing in front of the bishop’s office, each one having a list of personal enemies who they would like to see excommunicated? :)
My understanding of Catholic doctrine is that she’s already excommunicated herself by her actions. Now it is up to the Catholic Church to make it official.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/19039922/vic-priest-excommunicated-over-teaching/
Guess I'd better post that to the forum so more people can see it and take heart.
I’ve never heard of a layperson being excommunicated because he/she was pro-choice. Admittedly, I don’t know much on the subject of excommunication. But if that included everyone that supported abortion in any way, shape, or form, that would include a whole lotta Catholics, even some otherwise devout ones. Even the birth control pill can cause an early abortion by preventing implantation, if the woman still ovulates (which can happen just from missing a pill or two).
My grandmother was very devout, but she believed a woman should be able to have an very early abortion in the case of rape. I never asked her how she thought this could work (would a rape victim have to go through a whole trial before she could have an abortion? How could she have an early abortion then? The whole “legal in the case of rape and incest” doesn’t really work logistically).
"procuring an abortion" has the canonical penalty of automatic excommunication. There's no announcement or declaration, the person is simply automatically excommunicated. They should go to Confession, can be reconciled to the Church again, but sometimes it takes the Bishop to lift the excommunication.
More generally, excommunication happens when the person has DONE something outrageous AND PUBLIC, has caused scandal because of prominence and publicity, has been officially warned and has refused to repent.
That would be scandalous priests, bishops, and public people like politicians. The politicians are actually accomplices --- they vote funds for abortion, for example, it's just like a mafia don paying a hit-man.
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