Democratic lawmaker threatens Catholic Church's tax-exempt status as it considers denying Communion to pro-abortion pols



Pro-abortion politicians, activists, and opinion-makers have spent the last several days attacking the Catholic Church for daring to even discuss the possibility of denying Communion to lawmakers who support abortion.

Now at least one Democratic lawmaker is publicly declaring that the church's tax-exempt status could be at stake for taking a position that has ... always been the church's position.

What's the background?

Since the election of President Joe Biden, the nation's second Catholic president, debate has intensified over whether an elected official who supports and implements policies that promote abortion should be permitted to take the Eucharist.

Church officials revealed Friday that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 165-88 to reconsider the rules about who can receive Communion.

The bishops elected to draft a "formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church."

In response, liberal outlets like the New York Times accused the church of moving to "target" Biden, whom they consider an allegedly devout Catholic.

From the Times:

The decision, made public on Friday afternoon, is aimed at the nation's second Catholic president, perhaps the most religiously observant commander in chief since Jimmy Carter, and exposes bitter divisions in American Catholicism. ...

But the move to target a president, who regularly attends Mass and has spent a lifetime steeped in Christian rituals and practices, is striking coming from leaders of the president's own faith, particularly after many conservative Catholics turned a blind eye to the sexual improprieties of former President Donald J. Trump because they supported his political agenda. It reveals a uniquely American Catholicism increasingly at odds with Rome and Pope Francis.

What are Democrats saying?

In response to the bishops' vote, a group of 60 Catholic House Democrats issued a statement decrying any attempt to "weaponize" the sacrament.

We believe the separation of church and state allows for our faith to inform our public duties and best serve our constituents. The Sacrament of Holy Communion is central to the life of practicing Catholics, and the weaponization of the Eucharist to Democratic lawmakers for their support of a woman's safe and legal access to abortion is contradictory. No elected officials have been threatened with being denied the Eucharist as they support and have supported policies contrary to the Church teachings, including supporting the death penalty, separating migrant children from their parents, denying asylum to those seeking safety in the United States, limiting assistance for the hungry and food insecure, and denying rights and dignity to immigrants.

But as HotAir's Ed Morrissey noted, unlike the other issues the Democratic lawmakers listed, the Catechism "sets abortion apart as a particularly grievous break from the church, and it is the only departure in which excommunication is specifically prescribed."

Still, at least one Democrat is taking the fight to another level.

California Rep. Jared Huffman tweeted Friday in response to the statement issued by the Democratic lawmakers that it might just be time to "rebuke" the Catholic Church's tax-exempt status.

"If they're going to politically weaponize religion by 'rebuking' Democrats who support women's reproductive choice, then a 'rebuke' of their tax-exempt status may be in order," Huffman threatened.

If they're going to politically weaponize religion by "rebuking" Democrats who support women's reproductive choice,… https://t.co/GiiffF9MCt
— Rep. Jared Huffman (@JaredHuffman) 1624043836.0

So far, Huffman has not indicted whether he believes the church should be forced to change its doctrine, considering the Code of Canon Law states, as the Christian Post pointed out, that those who are "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."

Vatican warns US bishops not to deny Communion to Biden, other pro-abortion politicians, ahead of major conference



The Vatican has publicly rebuked conservative American bishops over their efforts to deny Communion to President Joe Biden and other prominent supporters of abortion ahead of a major conference this week where the issue is set to be debated.

What are the details?

In a sermon this month, Pope Francis preached that Communion "is not the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners." And in May, his top doctrinal official, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, penned a stern letter to American bishops, warning them to tread carefully about the subject.

In the letter, Ladaria complicated the bishops' plans by questioning their identification of abortion as "the preeminent" moral issue and pushing for an impossible unanimous vote on the matter. Anything less, he cautioned, could make the administration of church's holiest sacrament "a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States."

Though the letter may sound light and genial to untrained ears, those familiar with the matter assert that the message lays bare an unusual sense of tension.

New York Times Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz called the Vatican's warning a "remarkably public stop sign from Rome" and evidence of "a rare, open rift between Rome and the American church."

"The concern in the Vatican," according to Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit priest and close ally of Francis, "is not to use access to the Eucharist as a political weapon."

What else?

It remains to be seen whether the Vatican's exhortation will have any bearing on the communion issue when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convene for a national meeting on Wednesday.

Certainly a significant number of bishops have become concerned by the open support for abortion among many prominent members of the church, and are determined to resolve the issue by forcing a vote at the meeting to draft a teaching document.

Among those leading the effort is Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the USCCB. In January, Gomez issued a strong denunciation of Biden over his stance on abortion, marriage, and gender.

"I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender," Gomez said in a statement. "Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences."

Alongside Gomez is San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the bishop presiding over Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), another prominent Catholic who supports abortion.

In the pastoral letter issued in May, Cordileone slammed prominent pro-abortion Catholics over their promotion of an act that the church holds as one of the gravest sins.

Prominent figures who advocate for abortion "lead others to do evil," he said, adding that "anyone who actively works to promote abortion shares some of the guilt for the abortions performed."

Anything else?

Adding intrigue to the matter, the Vatican is reported to have nixed a meeting between Biden and the pope this week over concerns about the administration of Communion.

According to the Catholic News Agency, "The President's entourage had originally requested for Biden to attend Mass with the pope early in the morning, but the proposal was nixed by the Vatican after considering the impact that Biden receiving Holy Communion from the pope would have on the discussions the USCCB is planning to have during their meeting starting Wednesday, June 16."