California Catholic Bishop Says Pro-Abortion Politicians Should Not Receive Communion

Roman Catholic Bishop William K. Weigand, Sacramento, California, said in a homily on January 22 that any Catholic politician who supports abortion should "abstain from receiving holy Communion until he has a change of heart."

Also during the homily, Bishop Weigand specifically singled out California Governor Gray Davis, a Catholic, for criticism. "In stating that many Catholics believe as he does and insisting that women should retain the right to decide to kill their own children by aborting them, Gov. Davis needs to recall that we do not own our bodies. We are not proprietors. We are stewards - - stewards of a sacred trust."

The Bishop also said:

"As your bishop, I have to say clearly that anyone - - politician or otherwise - - who thinks it is acceptable for a Catholic to be pro-abortion is in very great error, puts his or her soul at risk and is not in good standing with the church. Such a person should have the integrity to acknowledge this and choose of his own volition to abstain from receiving holy Communion.

"...Issues of the sacredness of human life and other questions of basic morality are matters of natural law, not simply of church teaching. ...There can be no division between public and private morality. It is untenable to say, 'I am personally opposed to abortion,' but support someone else's right to kill their unborn baby."