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The Vatican Backs Refusal of Communion to Pro-Abortion Catholic Candidates
Why is this debateable?

In April, the Vatican's leading prelate on the Sacraments, Cardinal Francis Arinze, declared unequivocally that unambiguously pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion. Last weekend it was revealed that Cardinal Ratzinger, who heads the most important congregation in the Vatican, told U.S. bishops in a letter that pro-abortion politicians who will not alter their stand or abstain from communion after being instructed by church leaders, "must" be refused communion.
Vatican Backs Communion Denial to Pro-Abortion Politicians

I am not a Roman Catholic (as a Lutheran, I have an affinity for much of the Roman Catholic Church's teaching), but I think this is the only solution that the Roman Catholic Church ("RCC") should adopt, and the only outcome Roman Catholic politicians should expect.

I realize that the concern has been since JFK that Roman Catholics may be under too much control of the RCC, and JFK was applauded for showing that a politician could be a Roman Catholic without being a puppet of the RCC. Still, it seems to me that if a politician wants to claim that he or she is Roman Catholic and garner the good will that such a belief will bring from a great number of people (including me), they need to be serious about their faith. Especially in matters of morality--matters which the church is well-equipped to opine concerning--politicians should not be able to claim that they are Roman Catholic while refusing to implement the teaching of the church on these issues. This seems especially true in the RCC where the church has a single, unifying authority who has the final word on these issues. If the politician disagrees with the Holy See, then it seems to me that the politician should either change his religion or submit to the teaching of the RCC.

I support the RCC in this matter.

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