CHICAGO, (LifeSiteNews) — Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a non-Catholic and an active lesbian, received Holy Communion in a funeral Mass celebrated by Cardinal Cupich on August 19.
Mayor Lightfoot was present at Chicago’s St. Rita of Cascia Catholic church, for the funeral of Ella French, a 29-year-old police officer killed on August 7.
When time came for the distribution of Holy Communion, a priest walked towards Lightfoot, the first in line for Communion.
The non-Catholic Democrat politician received the Holy Eucharist on her hand before stepping aside, pulling down her mask, and consuming the Host. Celebrant Cardinal Cupich remained on the altar, standing off to the side while other priests distributed Communion.
Mayor Lightfoot is a member of St. James AME Zion Church, an African Methodist Episcopalian Zion church. She also identifies as a lesbian and is open about her same-sex “marriage” to Amy Eshleman. The pair share a 10-year-old daughter.
LifeSiteNews spoke with Brother Martin Navarro of the Oblates of St. Augustine, about Lightfoot’s reception of Holy Communion. Br. Martin pointed to the funeral as “a rare opportunity to both remind Catholics of the need to be in the state of grace when receiving Holy Communion, and to share with non-Catholics the truth about the Blessed Sacrament and its importance in our lives, as well the need for those that are not properly disposed to refrain from receiving.”
However, Br. Martin noted that “[i]n light of the scandalous interpretation of Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia [as] permitting unrepentant adulterers to receive Holy Communion, Catholics are right to feel that the bishops are gravely ignoring the sacredness of the Holy Eucharist.”
“That Cardinal Cupich would be the main celebrant at this Mass during which the non-Catholic, active lesbian mayor received Holy Communion rightly causes scandal to the faithful, and his office ought to issue a public apology for the scandal,” he added.
Lightfoot’s reception of Holy Communion shocked other Catholics, some of whom protested on social media.
Cardinal Cupich ‘ought to issue a public apology for the scandal’
Matt Gaspers, managing editor of Catholic Family News, told LifeSiteNews that the cardinal’s actions showed a “flagrant disregard” for the Blessed Sacrament.
“Not only is Mayor Lightfoot not Catholic, she is a notorious and practicing homosexual,” Gaspers said.
“By allowing such a person to receive Holy Communion on his watch, Cardinal Cupich demonstrates a flagrant disregard not only for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament but also for the soul of Mayor Lightfoot, whose gravely sinful lifestyle and lack of Catholic faith disqualifies her from reception of Holy Communion and places her in danger of eternal damnation,” he added.
“Both Mayor Lightfoot and Cardinal Cupich would do well to meditate upon 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 and change their behavior accordingly.”
Gaspers used Twitter to ask Cardinal Cupich why he allowed the non-Catholic “to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion.”
“Do you believe 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, Your Eminence?” Gaspers demanded.
Why did you allow non-Catholic @LoriLightfoot to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, @CardinalBCupich?
Do you believe 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, Your Eminence? https://t.co/msSw2MPQ5k
— Matt Gaspers (@MattGaspers) August 20, 2021
The passage of Sacred Scripture Gaspers referenced reads:
Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.
Communion allowed under Canon Law or not?
Canon 912 of the Catholic Church’s Canon Law states: “Any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion.” Furthermore, Canon 915 reads: “others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
Cupich, who holds a doctorate in sacramental theology, might attempt to defend the distribution of Communion to Lightfoot by appealing to Canon 844 §3 and §4, which states:
Catholic ministers administer the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick licitly to members of Eastern Churches which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church if they seek such on their own accord and are properly disposed. This is also valid for members of other Churches which in the judgment of the Apostolic See are in the same condition in regard to the sacraments as these Eastern Churches.
§4. If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed. [Emphasis added.]
However, Deacon Nick Donnelly, Catholic author and commentator in the U.K., argued that Cupich failed in his “basic duty of care” towards the Blessed Sacrament, and in his duty of informing Lightfoot that “only Catholic [sic] could receive Holy Communion.”
This week Cardinal Cupich allowed Holy Communion to be given to a homosexual Methodist
He had a duty to announce that only Catholic could receive Holy Communion
He failed in his basic duty of care towards Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) August 21, 2021
Even if Cupich judged it necessary or fitting for the mayor to receive Holy Communion at the funeral, Lightfoot, publicly in a same-sex “marriage” with another woman, was not “properly disposed” according to the requirements of Canon Law, and hence would not fulfil the conditions laid out in the modern Canon Law for the reception of Holy Communion by a non-Catholic.
The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is one of the four sins that cry to heaven for justice. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered’. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved” (CCC 2357).
In a 2019 Declaration of Truth, Catholic Church leaders such as Cardinal Raymond Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider stated that two persons of the same sex “sin gravely when they seek venereal pleasure from each other.”
“Unions that have the name of marriage without the reality of it, being contrary to natural and Divine law, are not capable of receiving the blessing of the Church,” they added.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a 1986 document, warned against any action which might show approval for homosexual behaviour, lest those with same-sex attraction “be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.”
Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago since November 2014, is known for his promotion of pro-LGBT Fr. James Martin and support for the reception of Communion by same-sex couples.
LifeSiteNews contacted the Archdiocese of Chicago but has not received a response.