McCarrick: Architect of Sacrilege

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DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Theodore McCarrick may now be a laicized ex-cardinal disgraced by rampant abuse claims, but his sacrilegious mark on U.S. Catholicism remains felt.

Former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic Party's presumed presidential candidate, is a fake Catholic who supports abortion, homosexuality and transgenderism. Despite his public opposition to Catholic morality, Biden claims to be a Catholic in good standing.

Pro-abortion politicians like Biden are not supposed to be given Holy Communion at Catholic Mass, according to the Code of Canon Law. Canon 915 states, "Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."

However, many pro-abortion lawmakers receive the Eucharist anyway. A ruse put on by ex-cardinal McCarrick is a key reason they get away with it.

McCarrick's 'Distortion'

In 2004, McCarrick distorted a memo from the Vatican to justify giving Communion to pro-abortion politicians. The issue came up that year because Democrat senator John Kerry, a phony Catholic and longtime supporter of abortion, was running for president.

The Vatican document, penned by then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), said government leaders who openly oppose the sanctity of human life should not be allowed to take Holy Communion. Ratzinger clearly stated eucharistic ministers "must refuse to distribute it" to unrepentant notorious public sinners, such as lawmakers who publicly support abortion and euthanasia.

But McCarrick — president of the U.S. bishops' conference at the time — lied about the contents of Ratzinger's memo. He told fellow bishops giving Communion to pro-abortion politicians is an open question, deceptively claiming, "Vatican officials offered ... principles and advised caution and pastoral prudence in the use of sanctions."

McCarrick went on to say, "The battles for human life and dignity and for the weak and vulnerable should be fought not at the Communion rail but in the public square."

Compounding Deceit

A number of prominent U.S. bishops today trumpet McCarrick's position — a position based on dishonesty.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Chicago archdiocese remarked in 2019, "I think it would be counterproductive to impose sanctions, simply because they don't change anybody's minds."

In 2014, then-archbishop Cupich said on national television he would give the Eucharist to abortion supporters, telling CBS News' Face the Nation, "I would not use the Eucharist — or, as you say it, 'the Communion rail' — as a place to have those discussions or a way in which people would be ... excluded from the life of the Church."

In April 2015, Cupich presided over a funeral Mass at which a Protestant — then-governor of Illinois, Republican Bruce Rauner — was allowed to receive Holy Communion.

Likewise, when Biden was vice-president-elect, Bp. Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg said abortion-supporting lawmakers should not be denied Communion. He argued giving them Communion would help the Church maintain "a dialogue with the Joe Bidens of the world."

Not Buying It

But not all clergy bought into McCarrick's manipulation.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, for instance, has spoken out against giving Communion to prominent pro-abortion Catholics.

He told Fox News in an interview last year, "They may not present themselves to receive Holy Communion because they're not in communion with Christ."

Cardinal Burke continued, "It's actually a favor to these people to tell them, 'Don't approach.' Because if they approach, they commit sacrilege."

Last October, a priest in South Carolina refused to give Biden the Eucharist. In a statement afterwards, the priest cited Biden's stance on abortion, saying, "Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching. As a priest, it is my responsibility to minister to those souls entrusted to my care, and I must do so even in the most difficult situations."

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois has also been outspoken on the issue. For instance, in June 2019, he decreed that lawmakers who passed a radical pro-abortion bill in the state legislature were banned in his diocese from receiving Holy Communion.

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