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"Denial of Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians is an act of love for the Catholic politician him or herself -an act meant to call the politician back to the truth."

TORONTO (Lifesite News) - The politics surrounding the matter of reception of Holy Communion by Catholics in public life who support legal abortion has confused the issue in the minds of most Americans.

It's not the politics of the politicians, so much as the perceived politics of the Bishops and the Pope that is the source of the confusion.

The popular perception sees caring liberal bishops welcoming Catholic politicians regardless of their abortion orientation to receive Communion while heartless conservative bishops use confrontation at the altar rail as an opportunity to embarrass and harass political leaders who cross them on their hobbyhorse of opposing a woman's 'right to choose'.

Taking a look at the issue through a Canadian lens may help put the matter in better focus.

For many years the only Canadian bishop to address the issue was Calgary Bishop Fred Henry in the province of Alberta. The Calgary prelate was the first bishop in recent years to say publicly that Catholic politicians who supported abortion and same-sex marriage would be refused Communion.

Bishop Henry is however the farthest thing from a right-wing conservative imaginable. In fact, he is best known as "Red Fred" for his untiring and very vocal support for trade unions.

Another Canadian bishop has recently spoken out on the issue as well - Archbishop Terrence Prendergast - who was recently installed as Archbishop in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa.

I interviewed Archbishop Prendergast on the issue recently and he revealed what seems to be a hidden truth in the abortion and communion debate.

He explained that denial of Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians is an act of love for the Catholic politician him or herself - an act meant to call the politician back to the truth.

Prendergast said: "The Church's concern is for anyone who persists in grave sin, hoping that medicinal measures may draw them away from the wrong path to the truth of our faith." He said that "medicinal" remedies such as "denial of communion" are employed to "draw them back to the way of Christ, Our Lord, the Way, the Truth and the Life."

Catholics believe that Holy Communion is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

From the earliest days of the Church, receiving Holy Communion unworthily has been forbidden; forbidden out of concern for those who would make such unworthy communions.

St. Paul in the eleventh chapter of First Corinthians wrote: "Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord." (1 Cor. 11:27-29)

From this perspective, Bishops who treat Catholic politicians who support abortion as if they were in full communion with the Church are neglecting their pastoral concern and charity for their wayward spiritual children.

For the Vatican, there is no question about the need to deny Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who vote in favour of abortion. The issue was closed with a letter from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

The then-Vatican Cardinal intervened into a debate among the US Bishops on the issue in 2004. Simply put, Cardinal Ratzinger said in his letter titled "Worthiness to receive Holy Communion", that a Catholic politician who would vote for "permissive abortion and euthanasia laws" after being duly instructed and warned, "must" be denied Communion.

Ratzinger's letter explained that if such a politician "with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it."

Since then, Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed this position speaking as Pope. Answering a reporter on an in-flight press conference last May, Pope Benedict addressed a question on the Mexican bishops excommunicating politicians who support legalizing abortion.

"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," said the Pope.

In the comment, the Pope was referring to the Church's Canon law 915 which states: "Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."

Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, a pre-eminent Scholar of Canon Law remarked on the need for Bishops to uphold this canon since without doing so they undermine belief in ...