Card. Arinze has done it again. VIDEO

The great Francis Card. Arinze, titular Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni, has spoken out with his classic clarity.

To wit, check Life News:

April 29, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The question of whether Catholic politicians who support abortion should receive or be denied Holy Communion has been a source of contentious debate amongst many bishops and theologians. But according to one of the Vatican’s most senior cardinals, the answer to the question is so simple that even schoolchildren intuitively know it.

In an exclusive video interview with LifeSiteNews.com this week, Cardinal Francis Arinze observed that he is often asked about pro-abortion Catholic politicians and Holy Communion. “Do you really need a cardinal from the Vatican to answer that?” the cardinal said he tells his questioners. “Is that really a difficult question?”

Instead, says Arinze, he suggests that people who are confused about the issue should go ask a class of children preparing for their First Communion.

“Explain it to them,” he said. “They will ask you, ‘What is abortion?’ Don’t use euphemism. Tell them what it is. It is killing a child not yet born in the mother’s womb. And then tell them if a person is for that, and says that he will continue to support the killing of such children, should such a person receive Holy Communion?”

The cardinal said that one parish priest told him he tested this out on a First Communion class, and they all responded, “No, he should not!”

“These children did not study dogmatic theology at the Catholic University of America or at the Gregorian university in Rome,” said Arinze. “And they saw immediately that killing an unborn child is wrong!”

[…]

I say, such people should not be allow to receive Holy Communion.

I have good company.

Holy Church says so too.

Canon 915.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDw1fV5fJ9s&feature=player_embedded

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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19 Comments

  1. Mike says:

    Simply fantastic. Basic, elementary truths are really simple. It’s our complexity that makes it difficult, and that complexity is the result of small or not so small surrenders instead of standing up for and living the truth.

  2. Uxixu says:

    Always loved His Eminence. I prayed the most for him to be elected after the passing of Saint John Paul II. The Lord saw fit to use him in other ways, of course.

  3. workingclass artist says:

    Father Z…

    I’m glad to see some Cardinals and Bishops speaking clearly but what do you think about this article in the LA Times?
    “Vatican to debate teachings on divorce, birth control, gay unions”

    http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-vatican-family-20140430,0,6157008.story#ixzz30Pllepi9

  4. Lin says:

    I love to listen to Cardinal Arinze! He is the best!

  5. Robbie says:

    Someone needs to make sure Cardinal Wuerl reads this.

  6. OrthodoxChick says:

    workingclass artist,

    I can sum up that LA Times article in two words: wishful thinking.

  7. benedetta says:

    You’d have to have been living in a cave to fail to acknowledge the plain truth that a being in the womb is a human person, and that to eliminate the baby constitutes an abominable crime. Someday maybe our country will be able to promote human rights…

  8. suikojay says:

    I love all the Cardinal Arinze videos that are out there! And I love how his humor, too!

  9. Andreas says:

    This is a matter of global import and at the heart of the sanctity of life as taught by The Church. I am therefore left wondering why this matter is left open to opinion and “contentious debate amongst many bishops and theologians.” If this cannot be resolved at a local level, might a definitive answer from and subsequent enforcement by the highest levels of accountability in Rome not bring this debate to a close?

  10. jacobi says:

    “should go ask a class of children preparing for their First Communion.”

    Oh, I like that! Yes, it’s actually that simple!

  11. Mike says:

    Most legacy “mainstream” media — of which the Los Angeles Times is a particularly lurid example — tout political correctness, a false religion, with limited and steadily decreasing tolerance for dissenting points of view. Knowingly to ignore that fact while consuming such media is at the very least an occasion of sin.

  12. dans0622 says:

    It really is quite simple. But, I also appreciate the detailed canonical analysis (which can seem complicated) from people such as Card. Burke.

  13. Suz. from Oklah. says:

    I decided to ask my 6 year old the question posed. She said, “No, they can’t receive Holy Communion! But, if they are very sorry, go to confession and never do it again, they can.” Out of the mouths of babes.

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  15. Juergensen says:

    Cardinals Arinze, Burke, and Pell really know how to proclaim truth in this world of lies.

  16. JacobWall says:

    @workingclass artist,

    You don’t have to look past the headline of the LA Times article to see that they simply don’t get that very basic point that Cardinal Arinze is driving home here; some things are so basic, so obvious, so clear that we don’t need the Vatican to answer them for us. In fact, the Vatican and the Pope himself do not have the authority to change these things.

    When people say the Vatican should debate things like abortion or the sanctity of marriage, they think this means that at some point the “right” side will win the debate and move the Church “forward” on these issues. But it’s pretty like saying that Congress should debate the law of gravity; regardless of what conclusion Congress comes to, apples will still fall off of trees, to the ground. If in doubt, just ask a child.

  17. faithandfamily says:

    Reading Cardinal Arinze’s words made me chuckle, as he certainly speaks with clarity. However, I would have been compelled to ask his eminence, if the answer is so simple, then why won’t Rome do anything about the hundreds of priests and bishops allowing those same politicians to receive?
    I recall years ago at a conference I attended where Card. Arinze was the keynote speaker, he chastised us Americans for writing so many letters of complaint of liturgical abuses to the Vatican!
    If our Pope and Cardinals won’t end this mess, what are we laymen, who can so easily discern the truth, as Card. Arinze points out, supposed to do? Pray for more courageous leaders, I guess.

  18. lelnet says:

    Well, at least it sounds as if the catechesis of children is improving. :)

  19. Pingback: Classic Clarity from Cardinal Arinze |

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