PARIS, August 16, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an interview with the French magazine Le Figaro, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterated that Catholic politicians out of step with the Church on abortion should not receive communion. Cardinal Ratzinger called it an obvious point of reason, not one of faith, that the right to life must be protected from the first moment to the last by any State. He added however that it would be contrary to the faith to be opposed to this obvious fact of reason. “A politician who takes a different position, which does not respect the image of God (in man) and the inviolability of the human person, is also in opposition to the rational elements of faith.” Such a stand, he said, is “opposed to a fundamental element of the Christian conscience.” See the full interview (in French): https://www.lefigaro.fr/magazine/20040812.MAG0015.html
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