Cardinal Francis Arinze, speaking at a news conference about a new Vatican report on liturgical practices at Mass, was asked whether "unambiguously proabortion" Catholic politicians should be denied Communion, though that issue was not addressed in the report. "Yes," the cardinal replied.Right, he's not 'pro-abortion' just like he doesn't have any SUVs (his family does)...
"The person is not fit," said Arinze, a Nigerian who leads the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, a high-level Vatican body that monitors and sets policies on church service. "If he shouldn't receive it, then it shouldn't be given."
The Massachusetts senator [John Kerry] did not comment on Arinze's remarks yesterday, though during the abortion rights rally he made a point of emphasizing that he was not "proabortion."
Leading American bishops downplayed the immediate significance of Arinze's views yesterday while signaling that the issue was a matter of concern.Of course they did - perhaps in the same way some will downplay Redemptionis Sacramentum as just another document that has no bearing here in the U.S.
Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, made it clear that there will be no immediate change in practice. Gregory said the issue of Communion for politicians who disagree with church teachings is already being discussed by a task force of the bishops conference and that, in the meantime, it is up to individual bishops to decide how to proceed.
Currently in the United States, only two bishops, in St. Louis and Lincoln, Neb., have said they would deny Communion to Kerry.
There is nothing complex about this, yet a bishops' 'task force' is needed to 'study' and 'discuss' the issue. My God, have mercy on them and give them the strength and the clarity of mind that You have given to Archbishop Burke and Bishop Bruskewitz.
Article here.
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