Posted on 04/19/2008 12:30:24 PM PDT by BGHater
Twice-divorced former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani took Communion at a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict on Saturday, breaching rules that bar those who remarry outside the Church from doing so.
As he left New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral with his third wife, Judith, the failed presidential candidate confirmed to Reuters that he took Communion from a priest.
Asked if he was uncomfortable with having broken the Church ban on the divorced and remarried taking Communion, Giuliani said, "No."
The Church does not recognize divorce and teaches that divorced Catholics are still married to their earlier partner unless the Church grants them an annulment, or ruling that the initial marriage was invalid.
Giuliani unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the White House this year. As New York mayor, he rose to prominence after the September 11 attacks, when he was hailed for his leadership during the crisis.
Despite his Catholic faith, Giuliani has espoused socially liberal political positions such as backing a woman's right to choose an abortion and supporting gay rights.
Last year Pope Benedict reaffirmed that Catholics who divorce and remarry cannot receive Communion unless they abstain from sexual relations with their new partner.
But U.S. clergy tend to leave it up to individual parishioners who are divorced to refrain from taking Communion instead of excluding them from the sacred rite.
Catholics believe that during Mass, the Communion host and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.
At Saturday's Mass, the pope consecrated bread and wine that was distributed to the congregation by other priests. Giuliani did not take Communion from the pope himself.
During the presidential campaign, Giuliani said he had some "very, very strong views on religion" that come from him having wanted to be a priest when he was younger and studying theology for four years in college.
Among other politicians who attended the Mass was current New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is Jewish.
Heaven.
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No, on 911 he took his mistress to Mass leaving his wife at home.
Seen on tv late this morning Mayor Guiliani going up to communion. I was suprised.
Jim Noble,Giuliani received Holy Communion and thumb his nose at us.He knew what he was doing.
How True. Rudy should change his name to Kennedy then his divorces won't count!
What hypocrisy.
OH Really,we have to leave the church because we were lied to.Ha I don’t think so.It just takes a good housekeeper to get the dirt out.
“totally” free of sin be stating beyond what the rules are or were. In pre-Vatican II days, the Baltimore Catechism taught that you were supposed to be in a ‘state of grace,’ i.e., having sought forgiveness for your sins, before taking Communion. That explains why confessions on Saturday evenings were so common in those days.
If I were in a position like Giuliani to take Communion consecrated by the Pope, I may have done so, too, regardless of my ‘state of grace.’
No church is, or could possibly be, for those free of sin; it’s where we sinners go for healing of our soul and spirit. Frankly, I’m not in a position to judge Giuliani or anyone else.
Heeheee
>>SO, why is it that you’re attacking the Catholic Church again?<<
Because here on FR, it’s not discouraged at all.
I will try my best not to commit this sin again.Is he impotent.?
>>If I were in a position like Giuliani to take Communion consecrated by the Pope, I may have done so, too, regardless of my ‘state of grace.’<<
If you are Catholic, it would be a mortal sin. No matter what.
BTTT for future reading.
Gosh he said kill the unborn and supported laws for it.He will never do that again?He can’t receive if he has no intention to stop.He ran for President of the United States and can not follow the rules of the Church that he belongs to.He is in my prayers.
If you don't like the rules of the church, why not go to another church that has fewer, less, or no rules, instead of continuing to attend one that you obviously don't agree with and are flaunting the beliefs? I don't see that the Catholic church is DENYING ANYONE communion or anything else. All the politicians and ordinary people who are cafeteria Catholics receive communion even though the church says they should not, since they have not confessed their sins and asked for forgiveness.
I just wonder what their point is other than to show others that they are gladly in defiance of what the church stands for.
Curious, the ancient Church believed that those who took Communion without being properly prepared were participating in their own condemnation.
I didn’t realize that Vatican II had reversed that as well...
The earlier question dealt with being free of sin to receive Communion, as if that was not actually taught in the Catholic church. The word “totally” was a stretch. As posted earlier, were ‘totally free of sin’ a requisite to receiving Communion, there would indeed be a whole lotta hosts left at the end of the Mass.
But if I am already ‘living in sin’***, with Wife #3, and am advocating certain political positions directly opposite the Church’s teaching, am I really going to worry about one more mortal sin ?
*** we realy don’t know that they are ‘living in sin’ since we don’t know (nor do some of us want to know) the effects of the prostate treatments.
We don’t know his sex life but his public life as running for the President of the United States was pro-death. He can’t receive.
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