A leader of the pro-abortion group Catholics for Choice claimed this week that the Catholic Church is “not Bible-based” while she defended the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
Speaking with Religion News Service, Jamie L. Manson, president of Catholics for Choice, discussed the issue of whether pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be denied Communion. Her pro-abortion group uses the Catholic label, but it is not affiliated with the Catholic Church.
“Even for conservative Catholics, the sacrament is powerful and should not be reduced as some sort of weapon of political intimidation or coercion,” she said.
“Catholics are not evangelicals,” Manson continued. “We don’t take things on faith. We’re not a Bible-based religion. We are a faith that takes in multiple sources when we discern big ethical decisions.”
Manson also told the news outlet that the abortion issue is morally complex – a belief that contradicts a centuries-old teaching of the Catholic Church. Christianity teaches that every human being is valuable from conception to natural death, and abortion is a grave moral evil that destroys the life of an innocent child.
Catholic bishops in America are debating whether to deny Communion to pro-abortion public officials like President Joe Biden. Many say pro-abortion politicians who profess to be Catholic are misleading people and openly supporting evil.
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In June, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops plans to vote on a document from their Committee on Doctrine “with the aim of clarifying the church’s stance” on pro-abortion politicians and Communion, the Associated Press reports.
Earlier this month, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone drew attention to the matter when he published a strong pro-life pastoral letter making the case for denying Communion to pro-abortion public officials. Cordileone said denying Communion may be “the only recourse a pastor has left” if pro-abortion politicians refuse to repent and obstinately persist in their sin.
“When other avenues are exhausted, the only recourse a pastor has left is the public medicine of temporary exclusion from the Lord’s Table,” he wrote. “This is a bitter medicine, but the gravity of the evil of abortion can sometimes warrant it.”
Though some bishops criticized Cordileone’s letter, others praised him, including Bishop Robert F. Vasa of Santa Rosa and Archbishop Joseph Naumann, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
Naumann said Catholic politicians who advocate for abortions are “creating scandal by encouraging others to do evil.”
Biden professes to be a devout Catholic and frequently attends Mass. However, he openly defies church teachings about the sanctity of human life and family. After just 100 days in office, he surpassed President Barack Obama as the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history by ending safety regulations that protect mothers and unborn babies from abortion and forcing taxpayers to fund the billion-dollar abortion industry.
Since 1973, more than 62 million unborn babies have been aborted in the United States, according to the National Right to Life Committee.
