  How fucked up is this? Really? Is ANYONE in the world stupid enough to have one shred of faith left in the Catholic church? No pun intended there. I mean, they are really pure, unadulterated, money grubbing, power hungry evil. Is there anyone but me who sees that? That they are a anti-woman, anti-child, anti-life lived by rules which they have proscribed, jackasses?
That the teachings of the man they profess to believe in (Jesus - remember him? ) are all about love and forgiveness and charity and peace and helping others? Do you think Jesus would have refused communion to anyone ? Anyway, their obvious ploy to interfere in the US presidential race and keep Bush in office makes me ill. But then again, what have I read or seen or heard in the media in the last year that hasn't made me ill?
I think there's a hell, and I think it's watching something you love be slowly destroyed while no one around you does anything or even notices it's happening. Cardinal: Politicians Need Follow Church on Abortion Fri Apr 23, 1:41 PM ET By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In remarks that could influence the U.S. presidential race, a top Vatican (news - web sites) cardinal said Friday that a Roman Catholic politician who unambiguously supports abortion rights should be denied Holy Communion at Mass. Cardinal Francis Arinze spoke amid a debate over whether Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) should be denied communion, which Catholics believe is the body of Christ, because he supports abortion rights.
At a news conference presenting a Vatican document restating standing rules about the celebration of Mass, Arinze was reminded of the Kerry case and asked if a priest should refuse communion to a politician who unambiguously supports a woman's right to choose abortion. "Yes," he answered. "If the person should not receive it, then it should not be given. Objectively, the answer is there. " Kerry supports abortion rights and has said he would nominate only Supreme Court justices who support his position. Anti-abortion groups in the United States, which is about 23 percent Catholic, say Kerry has what they have called a "perfect record" of voting for legislation that allows abortion.
He is due to be endorsed by Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) Action Group, a pro-choice group. Some members of the Church hierarchy in the United States have said they would deny communion to Kerry, who, if elected, will become the first Roman Catholic president since John F. Kennedy in 1960. The Church teaches that abortion is murder and debate over Kerry's eligibility for communion arose after Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis told him not to present himself for communion in the city.
Other bishops have given similar warnings. CHARGED DEBATE Frances Kissling, president of the Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice group, accused the Vatican of not understanding the separation of church and state. "It is time for Church leaders to acknowledge that the threat of denying the sacraments to Catholics who disagree with their positions has no basis in Church law.
It is both bad politics and bad religion," she said. Arinze, a Nigerian who is head of the Vatican department that establishes regulations on the way the sacraments should be practiced, spoke at a news conference presenting the Vatican document which itself is likely to charge debate over Kerry. The 70-page document makes no specific reference to politicians but turns the screws on practices that have become common in some local churches, such as joint communion services with non-Catholic Christians.
The section on communion which, in the Church's view, could apply to Kerry says: "The Church's custom shows that it is necessary for each person to examine himself at depth and that anyone who is conscious of grave sin should not celebrate or receive the Body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession. " Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, who heads a panel studying how to handle politicians with views that diverge from doctrine, has said Kerry should follow Church teachings. Kerry did take the sacrament during a Mass at Boston's Paulist Center on Easter Sunday. A practicing Catholic and a former altar boy, Kerry also supports stem cell research and civil unions for gays and lesbians, issues he calls matters of conscience. Kerry has said he keeps his religion separate from his public life. President Bush (news - web sites), a Methodist, approves of abortion only in cases of rape or incest or when the pregnancy endangers a woman's life.
Kerry Affirms Support for Abortion Rights By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) delivered an unabashed defense of abortion rights on Friday just hours after a top Vatican (news - web sites) cardinal said that priests must deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.
Several other Catholic politicians said they, too, had no intention of altering the way they practice their religion or their politics. With hundreds of Catholic politicians in the United States supporting abortion rights, the trans-Atlantic counterpoint was only the latest sign that the issue promises to be a recurrent one on the U.S. campaign trail this year. "I believe that in the year 2004 we deserve a president who understands that a stronger America is where women's rights are just that: rights, not political weapons to be used by politicians of this nation," Kerry declared at a rally with leaders of pro-choice groups that are mobilizing in Washington for a big march on Sunday.
"We are going to have a change in leadership in this country to protect the right of choice," Speaking earlier from Vatican City, Cardinal Francis Arinze stopped short of saying whether it was right for Kerry to receive Communion, but said a Catholic politician who supports abortion rights "is not fit" to receive the Eucharist. U.S. bishops have discretion in deciding who should receive Communion, but the cardinal's comments could put more pressure on them to sanction Catholic politicians whose positions are at odds with church teachings.
Kerry says he personally opposes abortion but supports a woman's right to choose. He did not directly respond to Arinze's comments, but campaign spokesman David Wade said Kerry believes the separation of church and state "helped make religious affiliation a non-issue in American politics. " Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt countered that Kerry's views on abortion were "outside the mainstream" and said the president "supports a culture of life. " Judie Brown, president of the anti-abortion American Life League, said it was perfectly appropriate for voters to consider a candidate's religion and the way he or she practices it in deciding how to vote.
She said the group is keeping tabs on 500 Catholic politicians at the state and national level who support abortion rights. "If you are elected to public office as a Catholic, then your fellow Catholics expect you to be Catholic," she said, calling it "hypocrisy" for Kerry to say he is personally opposed to abortion while supporting wider access to the procedure.
But Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, USA, said statements such as Arinze's "debase the political campaign" and would only isolate the church from its U.S. members, most of whom she said support abortion rights. "Every time Catholic church leaders have attacked Catholic politicians for their view on abortion, the Catholic politicians have become more popular and the church has become more marginalized," she said.
"It's a very foolish strategy relative to political influence. " She added: "Do they really want to tell Senators (Edward) Kennedy, (Barbara) Mikulski, (Patrick) Leahy and 70 other members of the U.S. Congress that they can't receive Communion? Because they can't just tell this to Senator Kerry. " Sen. Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat whose brother was the nation's first Catholic president, stressed that Arinze was speaking for himself, not the pope, and said he did not expect to be denied Communion despite supporting abortion rights.
"I'm a very strong believer in the separation of church and state, as President Kennedy spoke to, and I continue to follow my own beliefs and will continue to serve the people of Massachusetts," he said. Among American Catholics, 56 percent of non-Hispanic Catholics and 59 percent of Hispanic Catholics oppose making it harder for a woman to get an abortion, according to the Pew Research Center. Support for additional restrictions increases among Catholics who attend church at least once a week, with 50 percent of non-Hispanic Catholics favoring further restrictions and 43 percent of Hispanic Catholics. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, was criticized by Republicans recently for keeping track of the votes of Catholic members of Congress and whether they are in keeping with church doctrine.
He said the vote tallies grew out of meetings by a group of lawmakers exploring their own beliefs, "knowing many of us want to bring as much of our faith as we can to our action in Congress. " "We are trying to live the teachings of our church and we try to bring that to work," he said. At the same time, he added, Catholic congressional members struggle with adhering to their faith while representing people of many religions. "I am not here to represent the Catholic church," he said. Last week, Kerry met privately with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Washington archbishop heading a task force examining whether there should be church sanctions for Catholic politicians who vote and support positions at odds with church teachings.
Bishop Raymond Burke, the archbishop of St. Louis, has said he would refuse to give Kerry Communion. 
