Politics
Tuesday October 19, 2004
Vatican Has Not Denied Automatic Excommunication of John Kerry
Canon lawyer Mark Balestrieri responds to Vatican Statement Denying Contact
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
VATICAN, October 19, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - News which broke yesterday about a Vatican consultant's response to a question about canon law application to Catholic politicians who support abortion, has created a media uproar and contradictory statements about the Vatican's involvement in the response.
Washington-based Rev. Basil Cole's response to California canon lawyer Mark Balestrieri indicated that Catholic politicians who advocate abortion are "automatically excommunicated". This pronouncement was understood by Balestrieri to indicate Vatican support for his lawsuit against Kerry. However, with the Presidential contest in question, Vatican authorities, with unusual haste for an institution that is typically very slow to respond to even the gravest matters, today fended off any suggestion of involvement in Balestrieri's lawsuit. Balestrieri has launched a church lawsuit against Kerry seeking to have him disciplined by Church authorities for his outspoken support for abortion
In comments to the Catholic News Service, Father Augustine di Noia, undersecretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said Balestrieri's "claim that the private letter he received from (Dominican Father Basil Cole is a Vatican response is completely without merit." (http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0405749.htm )
Of note however, neither Fr. di Noia, nor Fr. Cole contested Balestrieri's main assertion that Kerry is "automatically excommunicated" due to his public and persistent support for abortion. In fact, in his original response, Fr. Cole notes that all Catholics who "publicly and obstinately support the civil right to abortion" while knowing the Church teaching against it, are "automatically excommunicated."
In a De Fide press release issued today, Balestrieri responds to the latest controversy over his statements. He indicates that he very carefully confirmed all facts before making his public pronouncement and that Fr. Cole clearly indicated to him that "he had been 'delegated' by the Very Rev. Augustine di Noia, O.P. to respond to my queries."
See the complete LifeSiteNews.com Special Report on this story at
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/041019a.html
See Marc Balestrieri’s complete Oct. 19 De Fides press release
“Response to Vatican's Statement Denying Contact”
http://www.defide.com/news.html
Fr. Cole’s complete response to Marc Balestrieri’s query
http://www.defide.com/resp/response.pdf
De Fides website
http://www.defide.com/
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Sen. John Kerry "Excommunicated," According To Vatican Response
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/04101801.html
In divided Vatican opinion, Kerry appears to lead Bush
http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004d/101504/101504a.htm
jhw
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.