Pope Francis: Refusing Communion to Abortion Advocates is ‘Not Pastoral’

David Martin | The Daily Knight

Pope Francis has again criticized denying Communion to pro-abortion politicians. In an interview with Reuters yesterday, he said that pro-abortion politicians should not be denied Communion, arguing that it is 'not pastoral.'

“When the Church loses its pastoral nature, when a bishop loses his pastoral nature, it causes a political problem. That’s all I can say,” Francis said.

By pastoral, Francis obviously means "permissive," since he is not on God's team on this issue. His warm embrace of pro-abortion fanatic Nancy Pelosi and his allowing her to receive Communion last week came across as a clear endorsement of welcoming abortion advocates to the altar of God.

During the interview, Francis was rather reluctant to praise the Supreme Court decision overturning its 1973 ruling that imposed abortion on all fifty states, saying he cannot “speak about it from a juridical point of view.” Clearly, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade was not on his list of priorities.

In an in-flight interview in September 2021, he told reporters that he has never refused Communion to anyone, pro-abortion politicians included, and criticized priests who refuse Communion to such persons. He suggested that pastors not “condemn” but that they be “close, tender, and give Communion” to them.

Not Pastoral

Clearly, Francis approves the abomination of pro-abortion advocates receiving Communion and cares nothing about the sacrilege they commit against the Blessed Sacrament, nor has he any pastoral concern for souls like Biden and Pelosi who condemn themselves by sacrilegiously approaching the Body of Christ. By his permissiveness, Francis becomes their worst enemy.

When a bishop gives Communion to a pro-abortion advocate he loses his pastoral nature by causing the recipient to commit sacrilege, for this places him onto the road to perdition by making him "guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord." (1 Cor. 11:27). "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself." (1. Cor. 11:29)

True Pastoral Care

The simple fix to the problem is the observance of the Two Great Commandments: The Love of God, and the Love of Neighbor, and in that order. A bishop must first love God by protecting Our Lord’s Real Presence against the sacrilege of unworthy reception of Communion, and secondly he must counsel communicants to cleanse their souls of all sin, mortal and venial, before approaching the altar to receive the Body of Christ. For by counseling them thus he liberates them from the shame of sin—their worst enemy—and advances their sanctification and eternal bliss with God, which is the highest charity a priest can practice toward souls!

Pastoral care means tenderly guiding souls to the sight of God through holy exhortations, not throwing them into the jaws of the devil by condoning their illicit and sacrilegious practice. The Church already determined long ago that administering Communion to abortion advocates is forbidden and destructive, so if the pope had any sense of mercy he would follow through with this.

St. Thomas Aquinas famously said, “The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists of leading him from error to truth.”

Hence the greatest kindness Francis can render to adulterers, homosexuals, and abortion advocates is to lead them from their error and bring them to the knowledge of God. It’s like quick-sand, you don’t show kindness by pushing them in it but by pulling them out. Charity is all about delivering souls from error—especially the errors of humanism, modernism, and ecumenism that have ensued since Vatican II—and bringing them to the love of God by nourishing them with the pure waters of holy tradition. Nothing else works.

It's like at the hospital, you don’t give poison or jinxed remedies to the infirm but you give them only what is pure. Souls need the “rational milk without guile” (1 Peter 2:2), not humanist doctrine cut with political innuendos or nasty suggestions – like it’s Ok to be gay or that God accepts us just as we are. Nay, lying to souls is unkind but telling them the truth shows true pastoral care since it liberates souls from a troubled conscience and brings them peace and joy.

“The truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)