VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pro-abortion legislation is a top priority for Argentinian President Alberto Fernández, who received the Eucharist with his concubine in St. Peter's Basilica recently at the hands of a Vatican official.
Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, administered the Eucharist to President Fernández and Fabiola Yáñez, his mistress, on Jan. 31.
Fernández civilly divorced his wife Marcela Luchetti in 2005 and began his affair with Yáñez, 22 years his junior, in 2014.
The two have been supportive of Fernández's son, Estanislao Fernández, an LGBT activist and popular drag queen — known as DYHZY in Argentina — who sported a rainbow flag at his father's presidential inauguration in December 2019.
Free clip from CHURCH MILITANT Premium
WATCH MORE LIKE THIS
Twenty-one days into his presidential term that began on Dec. 10, Fernández clarified his determination to legalize abortion in Argentina:
Everyone knows that I am determined to have this issue addressed. The woman who aborts puts her life at risk, but also the one who wants to have it and is in a problematic situation also has a problem. The decision is to address it in 2020. Let us solve this issue, [so] that the one who wants to abort can have an abortion and the one who wants to have a child can have it.
The Vatican prelate who administered communion to Fernández and Yáñez, Bp. Sorondo, made headlines in 2018 for claiming the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) best implemented the Church's social doctrine.
"Right now, those who are best implementing the social doctrine of the Church are the Chinese," Sorondo said. He justified the extreme position by saying young people do not take drugs in China and there is a "positive national conscience" in the country.
Regarding Sorondo's claim, senior editor of The Stream John Zmirak said, "He's the highest authority at the Vatican in charge of Catholic social teaching. Pope Francis never corrected him. So as of now, that's the official Vatican position. Good luck getting people to take 'Catholic social teaching' seriously after this."
On Saturday, the CCP's Regulations on Religious Affairs went into effect, worsening the government crackdown on religious groups, especially the underground Church in China.
"The CCP's purpose is very clear. It is to change the Catholic Church into a group that belongs to them. These rules will push the Church into serious dangers," warned Fr. Li, a faithful priest in Hebei province.
The sacrilegious Communions occurred on the feast of St. John Bosco, who once cautioned that "both the sacraments of confession and Communion should be received with the proper dispositions so that progress in virtue can be made each time."
Canon 915 requires that Holy Communion be refused to those publicly persisting in serious sins: "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."
Sign up for our newsletter to continue reading