Catholic Lawmakers Supporting Abortion Rights Attend Papal Mass, Receive Communion

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 21 Apr 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Several Roman Catholic lawmakers who support abortion rights, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), received Holy Communion on Thursday at a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, D.C., the AP/Google.com reports (Gorski, AP/Google.com, 4/17).

The antiabortion group American Life League placed advertisements in the Washington Times and The Politico this week urging Benedict to "protect the body of Christ from the bloodstained hands of pro-abortion Catholics" by denying Communion to lawmakers who support abortion rights during the Mass. In 2004, when the pope was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and headed the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he wrote a memo that said the "minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it" to Catholic lawmakers who support abortion rights. The memo was written during debate about whether to deny Communion to Kerry, who was the 2004 Democratic nominee for president. Mary Ann Walsh, a spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said before the Mass that no one would be "policing" who receives Communion and that she was not aware of any plans to deny Communion to lawmakers who support abortion rights (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/17).

At a news conference after the Mass, Pelosi said, "Communion is the body of the people of the church coming together," adding, "I feel very much a part of that." According to a Pelosi aide, the speaker received Communion from a priest and not Benedict (Soraghan, The Hill, 4/17). According to the AP/Google.com, Kerry also received Communion from a priest and not the pope (AP/Google.com, 4/17).

Resolution Welcoming Pope Passes After Language Altered

In related news, a Senate resolution (S Res 519) sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) honoring and welcoming the pope to the U.S. was approved by the chamber Thursday after language was removed referencing "the value of each and every human life," Fox News reports. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who supports abortion rights, objected to the original language.

Brownback, who opposes abortion rights, e-mailed his staff Thursday to make the change. Boxer spokesperson Natalie Ravitz in an e-mail said, "We are very pleased we were able to reach an agreement with Sen. Brownback to remove the political language and pass this resolution welcoming Pope Benedict" (Turner, Fox News, 4/17).

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