Setting the Record Straight

An AP story reported on comments made today by Saint Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke regarding the reception of Communion by politicians who support abortion "rights". Here's an excerpt from the story:

"If any politician approached me and he'd been admonished not to present himself, I'd not give it," Burke told The Associated Press Wednesday. "To me, you have to be certain a person realizes he is persisting in a serious public sin."

Asked if the same would apply to politicians who support the death penalty or preemptive war, he said, "It's a little more complicated in that case."

Now, this is probably about the one-hundredth time I've heard this kind of argument from media pundits or commentators, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. The attempt is to box someone into an apparent contradiction: support for the death penalty or this or that war is incompatible with the pure pro-life message as both war and capital punishment are on par with abortion in the moral sense.

Once again, I'm posting a passage from a letter written by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, dating from 2004. The Church's preeminent theologian and now Supreme Pontiff neatly sets the record straight for all those who confuse an intrinsically evil act with one that is not.

Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/bishops/04-07ratzingerommunion.htm

Here's the link to the AP story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071003/ap_po/giuliani_communion;_ylt=AjcTR8m6tnu4aFSu3VQxHrys0NUE