(LifeSiteNews) — Over 18,000 people have already signed LifeSite’s petition calling on the archbishop of Boston to excommunicate radical leftist Governor Maura Healey after she signed a law that effectively allows unlimited abortion up to birth.
In the two days since its August 12 launch, a whopping 18,800 faithful have already added their names to the urgent petition imploring Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston to excommunicate the nominally Catholic Gov. Healey, who is also the first openly homosexual governor in U.S. history. Earlier this week, Healey signed a law eliminating the need for specific so-called “medical justifications” for abortion past 24 weeks, establishing effectively unlimited abortion up to birth in the state.
“Governor Maura Healey has sinned gravely against God by legalizing the killing of babies until birth — thousands of innocent little ones will die an excruciating death in the coming years thanks to this barbarism,” LifeSite’s petition reads.
“We must urge Archbishop Richard Henning to formally declare Gov. Healey excommunicated following her scandalous betrayal of God’s law and His Church, knowing that such penalties exist to prompt the repentance of sinners and the salvation of souls who would otherwise partake in these crimes against God,” the petition continues.
As previously reported by LifeSite’s Calvin Freiburger, under previous state law, an abortion may only be performed past 24 weeks if a physician deems it “necessary to preserve the life of the patient”; “necessary to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health”; “warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis”; or “warranted because of a grave fetal diagnosis that indicates that the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical interventions.”
READ: ‘Murderers’: Democrats cheer abortion till birth in Massachusetts
Pro-lifers have long warned that such exceptions give abortionists ample wiggle room to authorize late-term abortions under false pretenses. But H. 5595 has done away with even those conditions, replacing the language with “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”
The new law also adds language that “no medical review process shall override the professional judgment of a treating physician and a patient or the patient’s health care proxy to provide an abortion consistent with the new section.”
Ironically, Healey signed the law at a ceremony surrounded by women (some wearing white doctors’ coats) who clapped in celebration.
As stated in the petition, while Canon 915 should certainly mean that Healey is not permitted to receive Holy Communion as a Catholic persisting in manifest and grave sin, the archbishop of Boston can also declare the governor excommunicated to best address this public scandal and deter more politicians from facing eternal perdition.
In a notable 2021 statement, Raymond Cardinal Burke, the former Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, said that those who “publicly and obstinately violate the moral law” are in a state of apostasy, automatically excommunicated, and thus must not be permitted to receive Holy Communion.
Apostasy incurs a latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication under Canon 1364. Cardinal Burke indeed added that obstinate denial or doubt of the intrinsic evil of abortion could also constitute heresy, which carries the same automatic penalty.
As such, the bishop’s role is not primarily to impose a new penalty but to verify the conditions (publicity, obstinacy after warning, full imputability) and then declare the already-incurred excommunication. Once declared (or even while the conditions exist), the person is barred from the sacraments under both the excommunication canons and Canon 915.
To join over 18,000 Catholics in demanding Gov. Healey’s excommunication, click here.