A pro-abortion New Mexico lawmaker reportedly was denied communion over the weekend by Catholic Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces.
The Daily Caller reports New Mexico state Sen. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said Saturday that the bishop refused to allow him to participate in the sacrament because of his “political office.”
“I was denied communion last night by the Catholic bishop here in Las Cruces and based on my political office,” Cervantes wrote on Twitter. “My new parish priest has indicated he will do the same after the last was run off. Please pray for church authorities as Catholicism transitions under Pope Francis.”
Cervantes’ stance on abortion and assisted suicide likely was the reason why the bishop refused to serve him communion, though Baldacchino has not commented publicly on the matter.
In February, Cervantes voted for a bill to keep abortions up to birth legal in New Mexico for years to come and to repeal the state’s only conscience protections for pro-life medical workers.
In 2020, he told the Albuquerque Journal that he “fully” supports “choice,” meaning the choice to abort an unborn baby for any reason without limits.
“There should be no laws which outlaw the private decisions regarding pregnancy,” Cervantes told the newspaper.
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The Pinon Post reports he also recently voted for a bill to legalize doctor-assisted suicide.
The New Mexico Catholic bishops opposed both bills.
Across the U.S., Catholics are debating whether pro-abortion politicians should be denied communion if they persist in advocating for the killing of unborn babies and refuse to repent.
In June, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to draft a teaching document on the Eucharist after many expressed concerns that President Joe Biden is misleading people by claiming to be a devout Catholic while working to expand abortions.
In response, a group of pro-abortion Democrat lawmakers publicly criticized the Catholic bishops for being too political – even though the bishops’ real goal is to guide people in the faith. One lawmaker boldly challenged the bishops to “dare” to deny him Communion and another suggested revoking the church’s tax-exempt status.
Many bishops have expressed concerns that Biden’s claims about being a devout Catholic coupled with his radical abortion advocacy are misleading Catholics and creating scandal for the faith. They have said the church must do something to make it clear that Catholics cannot support the killing of unborn babies and must repent before participating in Communion.
The Catholic Church teaches that every human being is valuable from conception to natural death, and abortion is a grave moral evil. Abortion is the greatest human rights abuse today, having killed nearly 63 million unborn babies in the U.S. since 1973.
