Catholic Fire

Canon lawyer Pete Vere has written an excellent article in The Washington Times about the debate over the denial of Communion to pro-choice Roman Catholic politicians, which was rekindled last month when Bishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, told Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to refrain from partaking in the sacrament . Vere's article gives the history of this debate as well as the consensus emerging among pastors and canonists. An excerpt: As Bishop Naumann joins the chorus of American bishops refusing Communion to wayward politicians, a new consensus is emerging among canon lawyers on the topic, which reached a boiling point four years ago surrounding Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry . Mrs. Sebelius, a Democrat, has been the subject of much speculation as a potential vice-presidential pick for Sen. Barack Obama. "Eight or 10 years ago, when people first started advocating on this, they were voices crying in the wilderness," says the Rev. Francis G. Mor...

By John-Henry Westen ROME, May 9, 2007 ( LifeSiteNews.com) - A reporter aboard the Alitalia plane chartered to transport the Pope to Brazil Wednesday asked Pope Benedict XVI if he supported the Mexican bishops in their warning to politicians who supported legalizing abortion that they would face excommunication. The Pope responded saying, "Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ." Referring to the Mexican bishops, Reuters reports the Pope added, "They 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". Speaking of the vote on abortion in Mexico City, the Archbishop of Acapulco, Felipe Aguirre Franco, said of...