Catholic politicians and communion: Cardinal says that Gospel, Church Magesterium must be accepted to receive

Vatican City, Oct 6, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Speaking this morning to 245 gathered prelates at the 11th General Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Alfonzo Lopez Trujillo, President of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family said that for Catholic politicians seeking to receive the Eucharist, their personal faiths cannot be separated from their public lives and roles.

Mindful of a controversy which arose during last year's U.S. presidential elections over whether certain pro-abortion, Catholic politicians ought to be able to receive communion or not, the Cardinal asked: "Can access to Eucharistic communion be allowed to people who deny human and Christian principles and values?"

"Politicians and lawmakers", he said, "have great responsibility. The so-called personal option cannot be separated from sociopolitical duty. This is not a 'private' problem, the Gospel, the Magisterium and true reason have to be accepted! ... The Lord is truly present in the Eucharist, the Lord of the family, of life, of love, of the alliance that unites husband and wife. God is the Creator of human dignity."

"The question", Cardinal Trujillo continued, "cannot be resolved conjecturally by following the various attitudes of different countries, because the conscience of Christians and ecclesial communion would become obscured and confused."

"All these questions are clarified and illuminated by the Word of God in the light of the Church's Magisterium. ... Politicians and lawmakers must know that, in proposing or defending iniquitous laws, they have a serious responsibility, and they must find a remedy to the evil done ... in order to have access to communion with the Lord, Who is the Way, Truth and Life."

The Cardinal may have also been addressing some bishops who, over the last few days of the Synod have suggested wider guidelines for reception of the Eucharist, including divorcees who have not reconciled with the Church and some non-Catholics.