Publication: Conservative Review
Disobeying the Pope | |
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THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW
April 29, 2008
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Disobeying the Pope
By Robert D. Novak
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In the aftermath of the visit by Pope
Benedict XVI, a troublesome question is asked by traditional
Catholics: Did American pro-choice politicians receiving
Communion at the papal masses indicate a softening on the
abortion question by the pope? The answer is that it did
not. On the contrary, it reflected disobedience to Benedict
by the archbishops of New York and Washington.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sens. John Kerry, Christopher
Dodd and Edward M. Kennedy received Communion at Nationals
Park in Washington, as did Rudolph Giuliani at Yankee
Stadium in New York. They were present because they were
invited to the masses by Archbishop Donald Wuerl of
Washington and Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New
York. Given choice seats, they took Communion hosts as a
matter of course.
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Vatican sources say the pope has not retreated from his
long-held position that pro-choice politicians should be
deprived of Communion, but the decisions in Washington and
New York were not his. The effect was to dull messages of
faith, obligation and compassion conveyed by Benedict. In
his Yankee Stadium homily, he talked of "authority" and
"obedience" -- acknowledging that "these are not easy words
to speak nowadays." They surely are not for four former
presidential candidates and two princes of the church,
representing Catholics who defy their faith's doctrine on
abortion.
Benedict's position was unequivocal when he was Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith. Asked in 2004 whether Kerry as Democratic
presidential nominee should be allowed to take Communion,
he replied, "The minister of Holy Communion must refuse
to distribute it."
Ratzinger's demeanor necessarily has changed in his
elevation from doctrinal enforcer to global pastor, but he
has not altered his position on abortion-communion. When
as Benedict he arrived in Brazil a year ago, he declared:
"The killing of an innocent human child is incompatible
with going into Communion in the body of Christ."
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Benedict did not reiterate that position in Washington and
New York, because a pope traveling abroad is influenced by
the stance of local church authorities. American bishops
are divided. Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis leads
those who believe pro-choice politicians cannot receive
Communion. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Wuerl's predecessor
as archbishop of Washington, took a position opposite to
Burke's. Blessed with charm and political finesse,
McCarrick was not about to clash with his archdiocese's
most famous parishioners.
Wuerl is considered less political than McCarrick, but he
is hardly less averse to colliding with powerful laymen.
He could have avoided any confrontation at Nationals Park
by simply not inviting the pro-choice politicians to a
mass where there was no room for the vast majority of
Catholics who wanted to attend. The five pro-choice
Catholics took Communion from the hand of Archbishop
Pietro Sambi, the pope's representative to the United
States as apostolic delegate.
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In New York, Giuliani receiving Communion was even more
remarkable. Unlike Pelosi and Kennedy, who are regular
Mass attendees, the former mayor of New York says he goes
to church only "occasionally," usually for holidays or
funerals. Abortion aside, Giuliani's third marriage would
make him ineligible for Communion because his second
marriage was not annulled by the church. But in New York,
Cardinal Egan is no more apt than Cardinal McCarrick was
to offend the powerful, and Giuliani was invited to the
Mass.
There are devout pro-life Catholics who oppose rejection
of any worshiper at the Communion rail, but they believe
bishops should publicly manifest disapproval of Catholic
politicians who support abortion rights. The bishops of
Washington and New York do not. During Wuerl's installation
mass as archbishop of Washington in 2006, he shook hands
with Kerry and Kennedy, seated side by side.
At Yankee Stadium, Benedict spoke of the "inalienable
dignity and rights" of "the most defenseless of all human
beings, the unborn child in the mother's womb." In parishes
across the country, the faithful hear their priests echo
the Holy Father's words. Those professions ring hollow when
pro-choice politicians are honored as they were during the
pope's visit.
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