Catholics who support abortion should not receive Communion, says Archbishop Burke

20-08-2008

Archbishop Raymond Burke

Rome, Aug 19, 2008 / 10:00 am (CNA).-
The prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said
this week that Catholics, especially politicians who publically defend
abortion, should not receive Communion, and that ministers of Communion
should be responsibly charitable in denying it to them if they ask for
it, "until they have reformed their lives."

In an interview with the magazine, Radici Christiane, Archbishop
Burke pointed out that there is often a lack of reverence at Mass when
receiving Communion.  "Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ
unworthily is a sacrilege," he warned.  "If it is done deliberately in
mortal sin it is a sacrilege."

To illustrate his point, he referred to "public officials who, with
knowledge and consent, uphold actions that are against the Divine and
Eternal moral law. For example, if they support abortion, which entails
the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives.  A person who
commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as
to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life," the
archbishop said.

"If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin
and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has
the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of
that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege," he added.

"We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a
state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist," the archbishop
continued.  "Secondly, there could be another form of scandal,
consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this
person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin,
is really not that serious -  if the Church allows him or her to
receive Communion."

"If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding
abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average
person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain
point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother's
womb," he warned.

Archbishop Burke also noted that when a bishop or a Church leader
prevents an abortion supporter from receiving Communion, "it is not
with the intention of interfering in public life but rather in the
spiritual state of the politician or public official who, if Catholic,
should follow the divine law in the public sphere as well."

"Therefore, it is simply ridiculous and wrong to try to silence a
pastor, accusing him of interfering in politics so that he cannot do
good to the soul of a member of his flock," he stated.

It is "simply wrong" to think that the faith must be reduced to the
private sphere and eliminated from public life, Archbishop Burke said,
encouraging Catholics "to bear witness to our faith not only in private
in our homes but also in our public lives with others in order to bear
strong witness to Christ."

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