News

By John-Henry Westen

CORNWALL, October 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At the annual Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Oct. 16-18, retired Washington, D.C. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will give an address on Catholic involvement in political life. McCarrick was the chair of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference task force on the issue.

While the Vatican has been clear in its insistence that Catholic politicians who are obstinate in supporting abortion by their political activities “must” be denied communion. Most North American bishops have refused to follow the direction.

Pope Benedict XVI, in 2004, prior to his election to the pontificate, intervened in the US Bishops’ Conference’s deliberation on the matter, with a briefÂstating that, after being duly warned, obstinately pro-abortion politicians “must” be denied communion. (see that document here:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/050419a.html

Further, the Catholic Cardinal in charge of the sacraments of the Church – Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments – has ridiculed his being asked to reaffirm so frequently over the last few years that pro-abortion politicians are to be denied communion.

“Do you really need a cardinal from the Vatican to answer that question?’ Can a child having made his First Communion not answer that question? Is it really so complicated? The child will give the correct answer immediately, unless he is conditioned by political correctness. It is a pity, cardinals have to be asked such questions,” said the Cardinal in a 2005 interview. (see coverage https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111407.html )

Following the Scriptural principle found in 1 Corinthians 11:27, the Church’s canon law also states at canon 915 that those “who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.”

Unfortunately, during the US Bishops’ debate, Cardinal McCarrick concealed from his brother bishops then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s intervention conifrming that communion must be denied (see coverage https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/aug/04080603.html ).

It was eventually made public after an Italian news agency got a leaked copy of the document, and Cardinal Ratzinger’s office confirmed it was authentic. (see coverage https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jul/04070501.html )

Even though a couple dozen US bishops made it clear that they would abide by the direction from Rome and deny communion to obstinately pro-abortion politicians, Cardinal McCarrick, along with a half dozen other US bishops stated publicly that they would not deny communion to pro-abortion politicians.Â

The US Bishops’ document on Catholics in Political Life which came out of the task force, while it did not follow Rome’s lead on denying communion to pro-abortion politicians, did however say that such politicians should not be honoured by the Catholic community and Catholic institutions.“They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions,” says the statement. (see coverage: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04062102.html ). This is not yet a policy of the Canadian Catholic bishops.