Eucharist denial to Catholic politicians over abortion

Because the Roman Catholic Church officially opposes abortion, a number of controversies have occurred with respect to Catholic politicians who favor abortion rights. Most such controversies have involved a bishop threatening to deny the politician communion; in a few cases, excommunication was suggested.

In the United States

In 2004, there was controversy in the United States about whether communion should be refused to Catholic politicians who voted for legalizing abortion, a controversy described as "raging" and as being peculiar to the United States. With some few American bishops in favor of withholding communion from them and the majority against such action, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops decided that such matters should be decided on a case-by-case basis by the individual bishops. Debate has subsequently re-arisen on a number of occasions. In the following year, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh said that, because of "national ramifications", no individual bishop should on his own deny communion to politicians, and that such an action should be taken only on the basis of a two-thirds majority of the bishops as a whole or of a mandate from the Holy See. Conservative bishops and archbishops including Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, and Charles J. Chaput of Denver see ecclesiastical penalties as a means of promoting the church's position on abortion, and some declared that they would act on their own initiative. In 2008, Burke, now in Rome, again said that Communion should not be given to such politicians.

Those few bishops who support denying communion to pro-choice Catholic legislators interpret canon 915 as justifying such action, an interpretation with which the great majority of the bishops disagree. Wuerl has commented that he believes the canon was not intended to be used in such a way, and that a pastoral approach would be more effective for changing minds than a legalistic one. Other bishops and archbishops have said that the legislators in question should refrain from seeking communion.

Only in the United States is there debate about denying communion to such legislators. Suggested reasons for this uniqueness of the United States are a greater politicization there of pastoral practice brought about by a more single-minded, crusade-like way of changing law and society, and abortion's status, in the United States alone, as a constitutional right that cannot be taken away by the legislature.

Mario Cuomo

In 1984, Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor, then Archbishop of New York, contemplated excommunicating then-Governor of New York Mario Cuomo.

John Kerry

In April 2004, Archbishop Raymond Burke forbade Senator John Kerry, a Catholic, to take communion because of his stance on abortion and possibly stem cell research. This action was at that time considered unprecedented and taken on grounds that experts considered not to apply to Kerry.

Rudy Giuliani

Burke also said that he would deny communion to Rudy Giuliani, and that Giuliani should not seek communion.

Kathleen Sebelius

Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann asked that Kathleen Sebelius no longer receive Holy Communion because of her position on abortion. In his archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven, Naumann wrote: "On the fundamental moral issue of protecting innocent human life, Governor Sebelius, throughout her career, has been an outspoken advocate for legalized abortion." He urged her "to recant her support for abortion, apologize publicly for her pro-abortion actions and participate in the sacrament of confession".

Joe Biden

After Joe Biden, a pro-choice Catholic, was selected as a vice presidential candidate in the 2008 presidential election, Bishop Joseph Francis Martino, bishop of Biden's original hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, said that Biden would be refused Holy Communion in that diocese because of his stance on legal abortion. However, Biden was not refused communion in his then-current parish of Wilmington, Delaware.

Patrick Kennedy

In November 2009, Bishop Thomas Tobin barred Representative Patrick Kennedy from communion due to his support for abortion rights, saying that it would be "inappropriate" for him to receive the Eucharist and asking him to cease doing so. Kennedy told the Providence Journal that Tobin instructed priests in the diocese not to give him communion; Tobin denied this.

Europe

In Europe, Catholic bishops have not raised the question of refusing communion to pro-choice Catholic legislators: there "rigorous principles coexist with more flexible pastoral customs". In January 2001, Pope John Paul II gave Communion to Mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli, whose position is that of being "personally opposed to abortion, but not willing to impose his stance through law". Similar cases are found among parliamentarians in Austria, Belgium and Germany.

Mexico comments

One notable incident regarding excommunication of pro-choice Catholic legislators occurred with regard to Mexico. In May 2007, Pope Benedict XVI expressed support for the Mexican bishops' envisaged excommunication of politicians who had voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City. Responding to a journalist's question, "Do you agree with the excommunications given to legislators in Mexico City on the question?" the Pope said: "Yes. The excommunication was not something arbitrary. It is part of the (canon law) code. It is based simply on the principle that the killing of an innocent human child is incompatible with going in Communion with the body of Christ. Thus, they (the bishops) didn't do anything new or anything surprising. Or arbitrary." According to Der Spiegel, many journalists were wondering if this support could be interpreted as a wish to excommunicate such politicians,; Time magazine reported that it was in fact such a declaration. However, church officials said that it was not a declaration but appeared to be a misunderstanding. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, clarified that the Pope was not excommunicating anyone, since the Mexican bishops had not in fact declared an excommunication, and that he did not mean to depart from a recent declaration that placed the decision to leave the Church in the hands of individual politicians. However, Lombardi said "politicians who vote in favor of abortion should not receive the sacrament of Holy Communion", because their action is "incompatible with participation in the Eucharist."

See also

• Catholic Church and politics in the United States