Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic University of America is coming under fire from pro-life advocates for approving a planned speech on campus by pro-abortion Sen. John Kerry. The university says Kerry won't take on the topic of abortion, but pro-life advocates say it violates guidelines set by the nation's Catholic bishops.

Catholic University's College Democrats have invited the former presidential candidate to speak at the college, located in Washington.

The school has approved the invitation but a date for the speech hasn't been set.

Kerry has high ratings from NARAL and Planned Parenthood on abortion issues and only a 17 percent rating during this session of Congress from the National Right to Life Committee.

He strongly promoted abortion as the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate -- going so far as to tell a woman during a presidential debate that he would use her tax funds to pay for abortions.

Patrick Reilly is the president of the Cardinal Newman Society, which holds colleges and universities accountable for following Church teaching. He told the Cybercast News Service that CUA is out of line by inviting Kerry.

"The purpose of a college is to pursue and seek the truth," he told CNS. "And at a Catholic institution there is a fundamental belief that Catholic teaching is the truth. So any activity that would violate that is, in fact, deliberately misleading students."

"The Church's teaching on abortion is very clear: in every circumstance, abortion is gravely sinful," he added. "And any individual who assists in procuring abortion, which includes political advocacy of abortion rights under Church teaching, is sinful."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a document in 2004 that tells Catholic universities to not give a platform to abortion advocates.

"Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles," the document they unanimously adopted says. "They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."