Ratzinger: Catholics Who Dissent Should Refrain from the Eucharist

Cardinal Ratzinger of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has weighed in on the US Eucharist controversy regarding public officials who openly dissent from Catholic teaching:

In an official letter to the US bishops, which has not been made public, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith writes that Catholics who are “living in grave sin” or who “reject the doctrine of the Church,” should abstain from the Eucharist.

As one commentator so eloquently put it, “If you are a Catholic and choose a career as a politician then you must be true to your beliefs and let the voters vote on the real you. If you can’t get elected that way then better to find a new career than to put your soul in mortal danger. It would be better to have no Catholic politicians at all than to have politicians who are Catholic in name only.”

Well said.