A Concord Pastor Comments: Catholic Politicians and Communion

Background for considering the news that Cardinal Salvatore Cardileone has barred US Representative Nancy Pelosi (of his archdiocese) from receiving Communion... Just about a year ago, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome, wrote to US Bishops urging them to preserve unity amid discussions on pro-life issues. He noted that it would be misleading if the impression were given that abortion and euthanasia alone constitute the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching. Cardinal Ladaria's letter is reported in Vatican News. An excerpt from the whole article appears below. (Note: An "ad limina" is an obligatory visit made by all bishops to Rome during which they meet with the Pope and Vatican officials and present a report on their respective diocese. Traditionally, these visits were made every 5 years but the large number of bishops worldwide now makes that about every 8 years.)

Cardinal Ladaria to US Bishops (5/7/21)

The Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria, SJ., has sent a letter to the president of the US Bishops Conference, Archbishop José Gomez, concerning moves by the conference to formulate a national policy regarding admission to Communion for Catholics in public office who support legislation permitting abortion, euthanasia or other moral evils...

The Prefect of the CDF recalls that the question about Catholic pro-choice politicians and their admission to receiving Communion had been raised during the ad limina visits of the US Bishops. He noted that the CDF had then recommended that “dialogue among the bishops be undertaken to preserve the unity of the episcopal conference in the face of the disagreements over this controversial topic. The formulation of a national policy was suggested during the ad limina visits only if this would help the bishops to maintain unity.”

Cardinal Ladaria further stated that the CDF notes that “such a policy, given its possibly contentious nature, could have the opposite effect and become a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger Church in the United States.”

Thus, the CDF advised during the ad limina visits that the effective development of a policy in this area requires that dialogue occurs in two stages: first among the bishops themselves, and then between bishops and Catholic pro-choice politicians within their jurisdictions...

After these two stages of dialogue, the USCCB “would then face the difficult task of discerning the best way forward for the church in the United States to witness to the grave moral responsibility of Catholic public officials to protect human life at all stages.”

The Cardinal however stressed that “If it then decided to formulate a national policy on worthiness for communion, such a statement would need to express a true consensus of the bishops on the matter, while observing the prerequisite that any provisions of the Conference in this area would respect the rights of individual Ordinaries in their dioceses and the prerogatives of the Holy See.”

He added that “any statement of the conference regarding Catholic political leaders would best be framed within the broad context of worthiness for the reception of Holy Communion on the part of all the faithful, rather than only one category of Catholics, reflecting their obligation to conform their lives to the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ as they prepare to receive the sacrament.” [Emphasis added]

Furthermore, he pointed out that ““it would be misleading if such a statement were to give the impression that abortion and euthanasia alone constitute the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching that demand the fullest level of accountability on the part of Catholics.” [Emphasis added]

Cardinal Ladaria, therefore, urged that “every effort” be made to dialogue with other episcopal conferences so as to “preserve unity” in the universal Church.