OTTAWA – Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau says his office and the Ottawa Archdiocese are arranging a meeting between he and Archbishop Terrence Prendergast to discuss his pro-abortion stance and whether he will be permitted to receive Communion.
Asked about indications from the archdiocese that he could be denied Communion, the self-professed Catholic politician told CBC, “I look forward to having a conversation with the bishop where he can explain, if that is the case, his views on that.”
When Trudeau said last month that new candidates must be “pro-choice” to be approved to run in the Liberal Party’s “open” nominations, Ottawa Auxiliary Bishop Christian Riesbeck suggested that the Roman Catholic politician could be denied communion for his stance.
The Church’s Code of Canon Law, in canon 915, states that those who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
“Out of concern for safeguarding the reverence that is due Our Lord in the Eucharist, and to avoid scandal, one could possibly apply this norm even in the case of a pro-abortion Catholic politician who is extremely vocal about his position,” Riesbeck told LifeSiteNews May 23 regarding Trudeau.
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Riesbeck said at the time that canon 915 would only be applied to Trudeau after “fraternal correction has been attempted and deemed unsuccessful.”
Archbishop Prendergast told the Catholic Register about the same time that he would not refuse Trudeau Holy Communion without first having met with him.
“I don’t think you can make a judgment about someone’s faith position simply by what is said in the public,” he said. “There needs to be a meeting with myself, or with his parish priest, a priest who is in harmony with the Church’s teachings.”
Trudeau said today that his office responded after the archdiocese reached out, but a date to meet has yet to be established, reported CBC.
“I look forward to sitting down with any and all faith leaders to talk about issues that are important to them. But the Liberal Party is unequivocal. We stand up for women's rights,” said Trudeau.
LifeSiteNews contacted the Ottawa archdiocese for comment but did not receive a response by press time.