The bishop of Springfield, IL, has forbidden Catholic legislators who voted for the Reproductive Health Act from receiving Holy Communion in his diocese, citing penalties in Church Law for those who “persist in manifest grave sin.”
In a statement released by the Springfield diocese Thursday, Bishop Thomas Paprocki declared that “Illinois Catholic lawmakers who promoted or voted for extreme abortion legislation are not to receive Communion.”
Bishop Paprocki calls out two Catholic legislators by name, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, but extends the ban to any Catholic who voted for the bills.
“Due to their leadership roles in promoting the evil of abortion by facilitating the passage of Senate Bill 25 this legislative session and House Bill 40 in 2017, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have been barred from receiving Holy Communion,” the statement reads.
“In addition, Illinois Catholic lawmakers who voted for either of these abortion bills are not to present themselves to receive Holy Communion,” it says.
These legislative leaders “have shown obstinate and persistent support of extreme abortion legislation,” the statement declares. “House Bill 40 legalized taxpayer funding for abortion and Senate Bill 25 makes abortion a fundamental right, allows for the killing of innocent children up to the moment of birth, and requires private insurance to pay for abortion, among other anti-life changes.”
Armed Citizens Stop Supermarket Shooter In Missouri
New Declassified Docs Give Tulsi Gabbard The Last Laugh On Ukrainian Biolabs
Obama Presidential Center’s $470M safety net under scrutiny as subcontractors say they’re owed millions
Trump picks James McDonald to lead powerful Southern District of New York after Jay Clayton’s departure
Texas GOP convention’s live elephant steals the show — for all the wrong reasons
Multiple people wounded in shooting at South Carolina’s largest mall, authorities detain suspects
Helicopter footage captures Florida man allegedly abandoning child during high-speed chase from deputies
Death threats from ‘TDS’ song show it’s ‘about the right thing’: Natasha Owens
Workers rip Trump name from Kennedy center facade months after it goes on, hours after failed appeal
US opens its home World Cup with a dynamic 4-1 victory over Paraguay, sparked by Balogun’s 2 goals
Lib Mayor Defends ‘Violence Intervention’ Activists After Yet Another Gets Arrested
Major Car Maker Issues Recall Over Engine Issue That Could Make Vehicle Stall
EXCLUSIVE: Collins pits record built in Maine potato fields against Platner’s ‘angry rhetoric’
Why This Tech Company Wants to Release 32 Million Mosquitos Into the US
Kennedy Center takes down Trump’s name: Photos
The statement was accompanied by a formal decree, which was mailed earlier this week to those Catholic lawmakers who voted for House Bill 40/Senate Bill 25.
“To support legislation that treats babies in the womb like property, allowing for their destruction for any reason at any time, is evil,” the bishop said. “It’s my hope and prayer these lawmakers reconcile themselves to the Church so they can receive Communion.”
Bishop Paprocki, who is a canon lawyer, said that if these legislators would like to return to communion with the Church, they must seek sacramental absolution and demonstrate a “public conversion of life.”
“In view of their gravely immoral action to deprive unborn children legal protection against abortion, it must be said that any Catholic legislator who sponsored, promoted, advocated, or voted for these pro-abortion bills has acted in a seriously sinful manner unfaithful to the 2,000-year-old Christian teaching against abortion and therefore, would place themselves outside of the full communion of the Catholic Church,” the bishop said. “Such persons are not to receive Holy Communion until they have celebrated the sacrament of reconciliation and displayed a public conversion of life.”
Armed Citizens Stop Supermarket Shooter In Missouri
New Declassified Docs Give Tulsi Gabbard The Last Laugh On Ukrainian Biolabs
Obama Presidential Center’s $470M safety net under scrutiny as subcontractors say they’re owed millions
Trump picks James McDonald to lead powerful Southern District of New York after Jay Clayton’s departure
Texas GOP convention’s live elephant steals the show — for all the wrong reasons
Multiple people wounded in shooting at South Carolina’s largest mall, authorities detain suspects
Helicopter footage captures Florida man allegedly abandoning child during high-speed chase from deputies
Death threats from ‘TDS’ song show it’s ‘about the right thing’: Natasha Owens
Workers rip Trump name from Kennedy center facade months after it goes on, hours after failed appeal
US opens its home World Cup with a dynamic 4-1 victory over Paraguay, sparked by Balogun’s 2 goals
Lib Mayor Defends ‘Violence Intervention’ Activists After Yet Another Gets Arrested
Major Car Maker Issues Recall Over Engine Issue That Could Make Vehicle Stall
EXCLUSIVE: Collins pits record built in Maine potato fields against Platner’s ‘angry rhetoric’
Why This Tech Company Wants to Release 32 Million Mosquitos Into the US
Kennedy Center takes down Trump’s name: Photos
Along with citing Canon Law, Bishop Paprocki appealed to recent statements by Pope Francis in which he compared abortion to hiring a hit man to resolve problems in life.
“I want to thank lawmakers who stood up to these barbaric pieces of legislation and voted ‘no,’ and I applaud their courage to speak the truth that the most basic right we should all enjoy, is the right to life,” Paprocki said.
Story cited here.
