4) Pope Benedict and U. S. Democrats.

Washington, D.C. -- A group of 18 Catholic House Democrats reacted negatively to Pope Benedict's May 9 excommunication remarks regarding Catholic pro-abortion politicians.

The group, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), issued a statement expressing their "concern" that the Pope's views on excommunication would "offend the very nature of the American experiment and do a great disservice to the centuries of good work the Church has done." Further, they took issue with the prospect of not being able to receive Communion because of their pro-abortion views.

The latest ploy of many Catholic Democrats is for them to pose as legitimately conflicted between their professed Catholic faith and their pro-abortion stance. The party relies on Catholic voters to maintain its current support in Congress. Thus, in the election of 2006, pro-abortion House Speaker Nancy Pelosi touted herself as a "conservative Catholic," making political stops at her home parish of St. Leo the Great in Baltimore, and at a politicized Mass at Trinity Church, Washington.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer and Fr. Frank Pavone, leaders of Human Life International and Priests for Life respectively, rebuked the 18 pro-abortion congressmen. "It is not possible to advance 'respect for life and the dignity of every human being' while tolerating the dismemberment and decapitation of human beings still in their mothers' wombs," said Fr. Pavone.

Fr. Euteneuer stated, "This is what the Catholic Church teaches and what Catholics believe. If the Gang of 18 believes otherwise, honesty and integrity requires they find another church that tells them what they want to hear. If they have that much of a problem being Catholic, no one is forcing them to stay. We certainly don't need their hypocrisy."

The U.S. Episcopal Conference's media relations office, issued a less flamboyant statement on May 23, 2007. It reiterated that the Holy Father's remarks reflected traditional Catholic teaching:

"The Holy See has made clear that neither the Mexican bishops nor the Holy Father have excommunicated any legislator." Rather, "the Holy See reiterated longstanding Church teaching that anyone who freely and knowingly commits a serious wrong, that is, a mortal sin, should not approach the Eucharist until going to confession."

Looking back

As should be clear from the above, the different approaches to the problem of Catholic politicians publicly supporting or promoting serious moral offences against the teaching of the Church, continues. The operative word is public. Laity who claim to be Catholic and then publicly reject Catholic teaching, are a relatively new phenomenon. In earlier days such people simply left the Church. Today, they want to stay in the Church, often because they fear they might not get elected if they abandon her.

Some bishops have begun to confront Catholic pro-abortion politicians who belong to their dioceses. Some have communicated with them privately, but done nothing further. A dozen bishops, mostly in the United States, have warned these Catholics privately and after failing to get an adequate response, declared publicly that these politicians may not receive Holy Communion. The politicians' defiance is public and therefore, the position of the Church has to be public, if the Church wants to avoid scandal. Other bishops have done nothing at all, either because they have no public dissenters in their dioceses or because they have ignored the problem.

The abortion-Communion debate is one that will not subside. In 2004, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the CDF, sent a letter to the U.S. Bishops' Conference task force on "Catholics in Political Life," headed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, to use as a guide (see C.I., Sept. 2004, p. 20). The letter clearly stated that pro-abortion Catholic politicians, after being duly instructed and warned by their pastoral superiors, "must" be denied Communion. Yet, in his address to his brother bishops, Cardinal McCarrick neglected to mention this central theme in the guide from Cardinal Ratzinger.

In more recent times, Catholic pro-lifers have been further dismayed by Cardinal McCarrick's actions with the pro-abortion Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). In April 2006, Cardinal McCarrick went out of his way to embrace the abortion-supporting senator at the Memorial Mass for Pope John Paul II. Not only did the Cardinal give him Communion during the Mass, but at the conclusion of it, took him by the arm and walked down the aisle with him during the recessional.

McCarrick's successor as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Archbishop Donald Wuerl, has indicated he is not prepared to face pro-abortion Catholic office holders unless all the nation's bishops do the same. Meanwhile, he has not shied away from publicly giving Communion to pro-abortion politicians such as Senator John Kerry. Further, in response to a question from California Catholic Daily reporter Allyson Smith, Archbishop Wuerl revealed that he would not be disciplining Speaker Pelosi for her support of SSM or for her support of abortion (The Wanderer, Manion/Duggan; LifeSiteNews, March 1, 2007),

Pope Benedict's latest declaration increases the pressure on bishops to act.