Eucharist denial to Catholic politicians over abortion

United States

General statements

In 2004, there was discussion of whether communion should be refused to American Catholic politicians who voted against laws banning abortion. With a few American bishops in favor of withholding communion from politicians and the majority against, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops decided that such matters should be decided on a case-by-case basis by the individual bishops. In 2005, Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh said no individual bishop should on his own deny communion to politicians because of "national ramifications", and suggested that such an action should be taken only on the basis of a two-thirds majority of all of the bishops or as mandated by the Vatican, while bishops Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix and Charles J. Chaput of Denver stated they would act on their own initiative and apply the sanctions put forward by a 2004 USCCB document entitled "Catholics in Political Life", though only, Chaput declared, in "extraordinary cases of public scandal". In 2008, Raymond Burke, former archbishop of St. Louis and assigned in that year to the Vatican, said communion should not be given to such politicians, arguing that support for abortion rights is a mortal sin that makes a person unfit for communion, and denial of communion would prevent other Catholics from thinking, because they see that pro-abortion rights politicians can receive communion, that being pro-abortion rights is an acceptable political position.

In 2008, a minority of American bishops supported denying communion to pro-abortion rights Catholic legislators, interpreting canon 915 as justifying such action. In 2009, Wuerl argued that communion was not intended to be used as a weapon and that a pastoral approach would be more effective for changing minds than a canonical one.

These statements of intent from church authorities have sometimes led American Catholic voters to vote for candidates who wish to ban abortion, rather than pro-abortion rights candidates who support other Catholic Church positions on issues such as war, health care, immigration, or lowering the abortion rate. Penalties of this kind from bishops have generally targeted Democrats, possibly because pro-abortion rights Catholic Democrats are more vocal in their support for abortion rights than the few pro-abortion rights Catholic Republicans.

Proposals to deny communion to pro-abortion rights politicians are more common in the United States. Suggested reasons for this are a politicization of pastoral practice.

While there was thus disagreement among the bishops about the opportuneness of refusing the Eucharist to Catholic politicians promoting legalization of abortion, there was unanimity regarding the moral obligation of Catholic politicians who participate in what their Church considers a seriously sinful action to refrain from going to Communion, an obligation stated on several occasions.

Main instances

20th century

The first instance of a pro-abortion rights politician being censured via denial of communion was in 1989. During a special election for the California Senate, Pro-abortion rights Catholic Lucy Killea was barred from communion by Leo Thomas Maher, then bishop of San Diego. She received communion in Sacramento with the consent of Bishop Francis Quinn. The incident brought publicity to Killea's candidacy and gained her the voters' sympathy, helping her to win the election.

In 1984, Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor, then archbishop of New York, considered excommunicating New York Governor Mario Cuomo. He also condemned Cuomo's statements that support for abortion rights did not contradict Catholic teaching, but did not suggest that Cuomo should stop receiving communion.

21st century

In January 2003, Bishop William Weigand of Sacramento said Governor of California Gray Davis, a Catholic who supported abortion rights, should stop receiving communion.

In 2004, then-Archbishop Burke said he would not give communion to 2004 presidential candidate and Senator John Kerry, in part because of his position on abortion. According to religion experts, such a denial of communion would have been unprecedented. Kerry's own Archbishop Sean O'Malley refused to specify the applicability of his earlier statement that such Catholics are in a state of grave sin and cannot properly receive communion. The issue led to comparisons between Kerry's presidential campaign and that of John F. Kennedy in 1960. While Kennedy had to demonstrate his independence from the Roman Catholic Church due to public fear that a Catholic president would make decisions based on the Holy See's agenda, it seemed that Kerry, in contrast, had to show obedience to Catholic authorities in order to win votes. According to Margaret Ross Sammons, Kerry's campaign was sufficiently damaged by the threat to withhold communion that it may have cost him the election. Sammons argues that President George W. Bush was able to win 53% of the Catholic vote because he appealed to "traditional" Catholics.

In February 2007, as emerged two and a half years later, Bishop Thomas Tobin asked Representative Patrick Kennedy not to take communion because of his position on abortion. Kennedy told the Providence Journal that Tobin also instructed priests in the diocese not to give him communion; Tobin denied this. In 2007, Burke said that he would deny communion to 2008 Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani because of his views on abortion, and that Giuliani should not seek the sacrament. In May 2008, Kansas City, Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann said that then-Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius should stop receiving communion because of her support for abortion rights, and that she should not again take it unless she publicly stated that she opposed abortion rights.

After Joe Biden was nominated as a vice presidential candidate in the 2008 presidential election, Bishop Joseph Francis Martino of Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, said Biden would be refused communion in that diocese because of his support for abortion. Biden was not refused communion in his then-parish of Wilmington, Delaware.

In October 2019, Biden was refused communion by a priest at a church in Florence, South Carolina. The priest indicated that he had followed a diocesan policy enacted in 2004. The bishop of Biden's home diocese in Wilmington, Delaware, W. Francis Malooly, said that he would not refuse communion in cases such as this. On January 21, 2021, one day after his inauguration as president, Biden received communion from the hands of the archbishop of Washington, DC, Cardinal Wilton Daniel Gregory. The event was condemned by conservative activist Austin Ruse, in Crisis magazine. In October of the same year, Biden stated that during a meeting with pope Francis, "We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving Communion".

In July 2021, New Mexico state senator Joe Cervantes was denied communion. Cervantes had cosponsored legislation to repeal New Mexico's dormant ban on abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother was in danger.

On 20 May 2022 Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the San Francisco archdiocese wrote in a public notice that Nancy Pelosi would be refused the Holy Communion due to her position on abortion. Three Catholic bishops of the US supported Cordileone's decision. In response to Cordileone's notice, Pelosi stated she supported the right of abortion, and added: "I wonder about the death penalty, which I am opposed to. So is the Church. But they take no action against people who may not share their view".