Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American who serves as the top judge at the Vatican, recently stated that Catholic politicians who support abortion must not receive Holy Communion...

"There can be no question that the practice of abortion is among the gravest of manifest sins," Cardinal Burke told the Irish newspaper Catholic Voice on Feb. 1. Once “a Catholic politician [who supports abortion] has been admonished that he should not come forward to receive Holy Communion, as long as he continues to support legislation which fosters abortion or other intrinsic evils, then he should be refused Holy Communion," said the cardinal...

He also explained that bishops and priests must do all they can to ensure that Communion is received properly to avoid the "grave sin of sacrilege" and to prevent public scandal. If a Catholic politician who supports abortion then receives Communion, it "gives the impression that the Church's teaching on the intrinsic evil of abortion is not firm," said the cardinal.

In 2004, as archbishop of St. Louis, Burke said he would not serve Communion to then-presidential candidate John Kerry (D-MA), now the secretary of State, because of his pro-abortion views. In 2009, Burke said that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should not receive Holy Communion because of her pro-abortion beliefs.

“Whether Governor Sebelius is in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, or in any other diocese, she should not present herself for Holy Communion, because after pastoral admonition, she obstinately persists in serious sin,” Archbishop Burke said in a March 13, 2009 interview with Catholicaction.org.

Sebelius, who became HHS secretary in April 2009, “is well known for her support of the right to procured abortion and for her public association with some of the more notorious agents of the culture of death,” said Burke.

READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE: 03/06/2013