"What we have here is a failure to Excommunicate"
Posted on 04/19/2005 6:30:03 PM PDT by RWR8189
In a private memorandum, top Vatican prelate Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told American bishops that Communion must be denied to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion.
While never mentioning Sen. John Kerry by name, the memo implicitly aims at the pro-choice Catholic Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate.
Ratzinger's ban is broad and includes all other pro-abortion Catholic politicians who are defying the church's ban on abortion.
According the Culture of Life Foundation, which obtained a copy of the confidential document, the Cardinal began by stressing the serious nature of receiving Communion and the need for each person to make “a conscious decision” regarding their worthiness based on “the Church’s objective criteria.”
But the Cardinal adds that it is not only the responsibility of the pro-abortion politicians such as Kerry to make a judgment about their worthiness to receive Communion.
It is also up to those distributing Communion to deny the sacrament to those in conflict with the Church's prohibition of abortion and the duty of office holders to oppose the procedure.
“Apart from an individual’s judgment about his worthiness to present himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone, such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin.”
If a politician such as Kerry “still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it, ” Cardinal Ratzinger wrote.
He added that such as denial does not mean that the minister of Communion is judging the politician’s soul but is a reflection that he is in a state of obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin.
“Nor is the minister of Holy Communion passing judgment on the person’s subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin.”
The document also address the issues of the death penalty and war, contrasting these issues and with abortion.
“Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia ... There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia,” Ratzinger wrote.
The memo was one of the subjects of an interim report by a task force of seven bishops established to address the Communion question.
The topic was also addressed by the American Bishops during their mid-June meeting in Dallas.
At that meeting the Bishops approved a document titled “Catholics in Political Life” which while it had harsh words for pro-abortion leaders, did not make specific recommendations on whether or not they should be denied Communion instead leaving the decision to individual Bishops.
Implicit in what the the Cardinal was saying, however, is that the bishops are required to state unambiguously that pro-abortion politicians must be denied Holy Communion, thus removing the decision from the bishops' discretion.
"Mr. Kerry said that, even though his favorite candidate didn't win the papal election, the Massachusetts Democrat will continue to play an influential role in shaping Catholic doctrine and practice."
And just how in the heck does this egotistical, heretical, religiously unfaithful, mendacious, doctrinally ignorant, cafeteria "Catholic" lay person plan on doing that?
The egomaniacal pride of these people is absolutely dumbfounding!
Thanks for the ping, this is great!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1252543/posts
LifeSiteNews.com | LifeSiteNews.com
Posted on 10/21/2004 3:43:27 PM EDT by St. Johann Tetzel
Excommunicated or Not, Kerry is not Permitted to Receive Communion
WASHINGTON, October 20, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The controversy over the Catholic lawsuit against Presidential candidate John Kerry, and the denial by Vatican personalities of having been involved in it in any way has generated confusion about Kerry's status within the church.
Apart from the question of whether or not Kerry is "automatically excommunicated", recent authoritative Vatican statements have made clear that he is, by virtue of his support for abortion, not permitted to receive communion.
The Catholic penalty of excommunication is to be distinguished from inadmissibility to receive communion which comes with being in a state of serious sin. The Vatican has spoken loud and clear about Catholic politicians who support abortion and their unworthiness to receive communion.
In April, the Vatican's leading prelate on the Sacraments, Cardinal Francis Arinze, declared unequivocally that unambiguously pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion. Later it was revealed that Cardinal Ratzinger, who heads the most important congregation in the Vatican, told U.S. bishops in a letter, entitled 'Worthiness to receive Holy Communion', that pro-abortion politicians, who will not alter their stand or abstain from communion after being instructed by church leaders, "must" be refused communion.
Kerry's own bishop, Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley told LifeSiteNews.com in an interview in January, "These politicians should know that if they're not voting correctly on these life issues that they shouldn't dare come to communion."
Those clear positions have not stopped Kerry from coming forward to receive communion. As recently as October 11 he was reported to have received communion at a Catholic church. The Palm Beach Post reports that Kerry attended Mass and received communion at St. James Catholic Church in North Miami Beach. The paper reports that Rev. Jean Pierre "strayed from religion to politics, echoing some of Kerry's stump speech about the American Dream (being) on the ballot in November."
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: Highest Authorities in Vatican Back Denial of Communion to Pro-Abortion Politicians http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jul/04070501.html Boston Archbishop Says Pro-Abortion Politicians "Shouldn't Dare Come to Communion" http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04012301.html
See the Palm Beach Post coverage: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/shared/news/politics/stories/10/11kerry.html
Uhm...the name of the "news" site is "Scrapleface".
(It's a spoof site)
Who was it who gave Kerry a legal annulment (after he had been married umpteen years and had two daughters)? That's just plain wrong. That priest/bishop/whoever should be expelled.
Man,that's a HOOT!!!!
The RAT-Zinger!!!!!
SCHWEEEEEET...........
So when the MSM calls him, 'the Nazi Pope', "God's Rotweiller", the 'neo-con Pope', etc., we will proudly call him 'the Rat-Zinger'....
He just needs a good Hollywood-type opening line. How about "What we have here is a failure to excommunicate"?
Ted Kennedy's nervous.
Howard Dean is the maddest Unitarian you've ever seen.
John Kerry served in Vietnam with Catholics.
Dominus vobiscum.
"What we have here is a failure to Excommunicate"
Now that's fine Freeper humor!
Emmett McCarthy came up with the perfect line...we now need a good photo-shop...
see #31
In an earlier post Laz suggested that the NYT might call the new Pope a Nazi. Laz was not far off. While they may not call him a Nazi, they will get as close to the line as possible by telling how he was in the Hitler youth and that he served in the German Army. And they will obviously be even more vicious because he suggested that politicians who support abortion should be denied communion. I wonder who in the MSM will win the award for the most "over the top" comment. It shouldn't be long.
It's what the Legacy Media does: It lies, it slanders, it makes it up out of whole cloth.
Thanks for the ping!
He really is a RAT-ZINGER!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.