What the Pope said
Okay….good. The media are focusing on what the Pope said again, and though the remarks on the plane were not the length or depth of the Regensburg address, it gives the Church an opportunity for teaching.
Pope Benedict XVI’s agreement that Roman Catholic politicians in Mexico City who voted to legalize abortion should be denied the rite of Communion could have an effect on the 2008 presidential race in the United States.
The pontiff’s comments put five of seven Catholic candidates at odds with their church.
Reporters aboard the pope’s flight to Mexico City on Wednesday asked if he supported the decision by bishops there to excommunicate politicians who had voted to legalize abortion in the first trimester.
The pope responded that excommunication for those promoting abortion is “nothing new, it’s normal, it wasn’t arbitrary. It is what is foreseen by the Church’s doctrine.”
His comments later were clarified by the papal press office to say that neither the pope nor the Mexican bishops had declared the politicians excommunicated.
So, could we get this straight?
Pope Benedict XVI’s comments on excommunication for pro-abortion Catholic politicians touched on huge and sensitive issues — so sensitive that the Vatican issued a toned-down version of his remarks the following day.
Speaking with journalists on the plane taking him to Brazil May 9, the pope left the impression that he agreed with those invoking excommunication for Catholic legislators in Mexico City who had voted in April to legalize abortion.
When reporters pressed the pope on whether he supported the excommunication of the Mexican deputies, he answered: “Yes, this excommunication was not something arbitrary, but is foreseen by the Code (of Canon Law). It is simply part of church law that the killing of an innocent baby is incompatible with being in communion with the body of Christ.”
Referring to Mexican bishops, the pope continued: “Therefore, they did not do anything new, surprising or arbitrary. They only underlined publicly what is foreseen in (canon) law, a law based on the church’s doctrine and faith, on our appreciation for life and for human individuality from the first moment.”
Based on the reaction I’m seeing this evening in the mainstream media – when scanning the news, I hit upon CNN just when they were taking on the Pope – let’s look at further analysis in the Catholic media, which we always get from Phil Lawler at Catholic World News.
The Pope was asked whether he supported the Mexican bishops’ decision to excommunicate politicians who vote for abortion. He said that he did.
But wait; it isn’t quite that simple.
Complication #1: The Mexican bishops have not announced the excommunication of any politicians. And if any such canonical sanctions are to be imposed, they should be imposed by the local diocesan bishop, not the Bishop of Rome. As Father Lombardi would later say, “the Mexican bishops have not excommunicated these politicians, and neither has Benedict XVI.”
Complication #2: The Code of Canon Law clearly stipulates that anyone directly involved in an abortion incurs the penalty of excommunication. Some canonists argue that this penalty could also apply to politicians who vote in favor of legalizing abortion, but that is at best a controversial interpretation of the canon, and the weight of informed opinion leans against it. It is true that the Pope, as the supreme legislator for the Church, has the authority to make a definitive ruling, and say that the excommunication does apply to pro-abortion politicians. But as Ed Peters observed on his excellent canon-law blog, the Pope would probably make such a ruling only after careful deliberation, not in response to a reporter’s query. It seemed highly improbable that he intended any such “legislating in midair.”
Complication #3: The term “excommunication” is linguistically very close to “excluding from Communion,” which is quite a different thing. Excommunication is a canonical penalty, which brings into play all the provisions of the Church’s legal system. Excluding an individual from receiving Communion, on the other hand, is a disciplinary action that any bishop could take for due cause. In Mexico, the bishops had said that politicians who supported the move to legalize abortion would be barred from receiving the Eucharist; that is the context for the Pope’s statement. But since the Holy Father’s words were translated quickly into dozens of different languages– usually by secular journalists, who would not understand this distinction– confusion was quick to ensue.
Was the Pope actually speaking about formal excommunication, then, or did he merely mean to say that the Mexican politicians who voted to legalize abortion should not receive Communion?
The media are having a heyday interpreting this as they wish.
Perhaps the best way to analyze the Pope’s statement is to set aside the issue of excommunication, and examine the simpler question of whether the Pope believes the Mexican lawmakers should be barred from receiving the Eucharist. When the question is framed in that way, the answer seems quite clear.
Let’s have clarity:
Formal excommunication is a dramatic step: one that commands attention in the mass media. But excommunication is not the only means of making it quite clear that the Church cannot condone the deliberate destruction of innocent human life, or the behavior of politicians who support the killing.
Short of outright excommunication…Catholic bishops have the authority to say that public figures who support the culture of death should be denied the Eucharist.
We’re going to be hearing a lot more of this issue on the next year and a half. Be informed.
