(LifeSiteNews) — The head of Canada’s Catholic bishops has backed refusing Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians in the context of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s reception of the Eucharist last week.
In an April 11 interview with the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Bishop William McGrattan, the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, declared that pro-abortion politicians should not be given Holy Communion, less than a week after Carney received the Eucharist at an Ottawa parish.
“I would say that someone who is in politics and claims to be living according to their faith and making such statements, we see the disconnect, and this is unfortunate with many of our politicians,” he said.
The EWTN reporter questioned if this would include pro-abortion Carney, who was seen receiving Holy Communion on a parish live stream last Sunday.
McGrattan explained that the decision to deny someone Holy Communion ultimately lies with the person’s local bishop, who in this case is Marcel Damphousse, archbishop of Ottawa-Cornwall.
“I think that those pastoral decisions would have to be made by the local bishop,” he said.
“Those are decisions, obviously, that affect the life of the local Church and, therefore, you know, if it is in [regard to] a very challenging, scandalous position, I think, then, that is the responsibility of the bishop, in a pastoral way, to confront and to challenge various politicians in that way,” McGrattan said.
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, last Sunday, Carney, who calls himself Catholic despite “unreservedly” supporting abortion, could be seen receiving Communion at St. Monica’s Parish in Ottawa.
Providentially, during the sermon, the priest condemned abortion as “murder,” reminded those in attendance that aiding or encouraging abortion is mortally sinful, and urged parishioners to remember that there is “never a reason to receive Holy Communion” if “we’ve ever fallen into mortal sin” until being absolved of sin in Confession.
“Abortion, that’s murder,” Father Michael El-Nacef, a visiting priest at the parish, told the congregation during his sermon.
Earlier in his sermon, El-Nacef described how mortal sins cut a person off from receiving God’s grace.
“If we’ve ever fallen into mortal sin, there’s never a reason to receive Holy Communion,” he declared. “We always, always, always have to go to Confession first.”
Regardless of this warning, Carney can be seen approaching the altar and receiving Communion. Interestingly, at this point, Carney decided not to return to his pew and left the church.
According to the Vatican’s current Code of Canon Law, “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy Communion.”
The last category, “others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin,” refers to those have publicly persisted in a state of grave sin, such as unmarried couples living together, homosexual “couples,” and pro-abortion politicians.
During his short time in Canadian politics, Carney has made sure that voters are aware of his pro-abortion platform. Late last month, a reporter asked Carney, “Prime Minister Carney, you are a practicing Catholic. You attended church before you visited the governor general this morning. Do you explicitly support a woman’s right to choose [to kill her unborn child], and how will your faith impact your policy deliberations should you win this election?”
Carney, before the reporter even finished the question, replied, “absolutely.”
“Thank you for the question,” he added. “I wouldn’t have drawn attention to the fact that I went to church, but thank you for noting it. I absolutely support a woman’s right to choose [abortion], unreservedly, and I will defend it as the Liberal Party has defended it: proudly and consistently.”