Giuliani Should Not Have Received Communion Because He Supports Abortion Rights, Cardinal Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 30 Apr 2008 - 5:00 PST

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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani should not have received Holy Communion during a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month, New York Cardinal Edward Egan said in a statement released Monday, the New York Times reports.

Egan said that he and Giuliani, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, reached "an understanding" in 2000 that Giuliani "was not to receive [Communion] because of his well-known support of abortion" (Barron, New York Times, 4/29). Egan said Giuliani broke that understanding when he received Communion from a clergy member during the April 19 papal Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Egan said he would seek a meeting with Giuliani "to insist that he abide by our understanding" (Matthews, AP/Google.com, 4/29).

Egan said he "deeply regret[s]" that Giuliani received Communion at the Mass. Giuliani in a statement said that he would meet with Egan but that his "faith is a deeply personal matter and should remain confidential." His spokesperson Sunny Mindel did not provide additional details, Long Island Newsday reports. Egan's office also was unavailable for comment (Barrios/Jones, Long Island Newsday, 4/28).

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York, said Egan's statement was prompted in part by a syndicated column by Robert Novak that said allowing politicians who support abortion rights to receive Communion "reflected disobedience" to the pope. Zwilling added that Egan "felt it was important to clarify" the understanding he and Giuliani had regarding Communion and that Egan "address it publicly."

Egan in the statement responded to Novak's claims of "disobedience," saying he has "repeated" the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion in "sermons, articles, addresses and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind." The Archdiocese of Washington also issued a statement Monday in response to Novak's column, saying that Washington, D.C., Archbishop Donald Wuerl has "consistently and persistently presented" the church's teachings on abortion.

According to Reuters/TVNZ, Catholic Church leaders previously have said that Communion should be denied to politicians who support abortion rights (Reuters/TVNZ, 4/29). 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 (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/17).

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