[frogjerk]

Days later, a top Vatican official said politicians who don't publicly oppose abortion should be denied Communion. In response, McGreevey said he would no longer take Communion in public, but the issue clearly frustrated him.

Wasn't this top Vatican official Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI?

[wideawake]

I believe you are correct.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

I learned about all this from Father Corapi. If you publicly take a position against what the Church teaches or believes as a body, or even if you take it privately, it's called apostasy, and you are an apostate. If you are an apostate, it is not necessary for the church to excommunicate you. You have ipso facto done it to yourself. Therefore it is called ipso facto excommunication, meaning "by that very fact" excommunicated.