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Thank you, Benny the Rat.
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New pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaign
Tue Apr 19, 6:20 PM ET
German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican theologian who was elected
Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering
bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including
presidential candidate John Kerry.
In a June 2004 letter to US bishops enunciating principles of worthiness
for communion recipients, Ratzinger specified that strong and open
supporters of abortion should be denied the Catholic sacrament, for
being guilty of a "grave sin."
He specifically mentioned "the case of a Catholic politician
consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and
euthanasia laws," a reference widely understood to mean Democratic
candidate Kerry, a Catholic who has defended abortion rights.
The letter said a priest confronted with such a person seeking communion
"must refuse to distribute it."
A footnote to the letter also condemned any Catholic who votes
specifically for a candidate because the candidate holds a pro-abortion
position. Such a voter "would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil,
and so unworthy to present himself for holy communion," the letter read.
The letter, which was revealed in the Italian magazine L'Espresso last
year, was reportedly only sent to US Catholic bishops, who discussed it
in their convocation in Denver, Colorado, in mid-June.
Sharply divided on the issue, the bishops decided to leave the decision
on granting or denying communion to the individual priest. Kerry later
received communion several times from sympathetic priests.
Nevertheless, in the November election, a majority of Catholic voters,
who traditionally supported Democratic Party candidates, shifted their
votes to Republican and eventual winner George W. Bush.
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http://beta.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050419/pl_afp/vaticanpopeus
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John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
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