Pope Francis praises group that wants to deny communion to anti-life politicians

On Saturday, Pope Francis addressed a delegation from the Dignitatis Humanae Institute at the Vatican.  He criticized the modern "throwaway culture" and praised this group which asks that, among other things, that politicians who support such a culture, particularly through abortion and euthanasia, should be denied communion.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Last Saturday, Pope Francis addressed a delegation from the Dignitatis Humanae Institute and offered praise for their work. Specifically he spoke about human dignity and the Institute's role in promoting it, praising its "welcome initiatives that aim to help people, communities, and institutions to rediscover the ethical and social importance of the principle of human dignity, which is the root of liberty and justice."

More importantly, he spoke about what he called "practical atheism" and communion for politicians who support anti-life policies.

"Unfortunately, in our epoch," Pope Francis said, "so rich in many accomplishments and hopes, there is no lack of powers and forces that end up producing a throwaway culture, and this threatens to become the dominant mentality."

"The victims of culture," he added, "are precisely the weakest and most fragile human beings - the unborn, the poorest people, sick elderly people, gravely disabled people... who are in danger of being 'thrown out. expelled from a machine that must be efficient at all costs. This false model of man and society embodies a practical atheism."

The Dignitatis Humanae Institute takes several active positions, especially against abortion and euthanasia. Both practices are spreading globally and there are movements in the United States aimed at expanding them.

The Institute says it is a reaction to these movements and that it aims to be a public voice for Christians amid a cacophony of secular attacks intended to silence Christianity.

Among the notable petitions of the group, is the call that politicians who support abortion and euthanasia should be denied communion. Cardinal Rayond Burke, who is now the head of the Apostolic Signatura, was previously the Archbishop of St. Louis. In 2004, the Archbishop proclaimed that he would not serve communion to presidential candidate, John Kerry, because of his public anti-life position.

Burke, who is the head of the group's advisory board, has also asked that communion be denied to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Kathleen Sebelius, for the same reason.

According to Pope Francis, "the human person must always be an end and never a means." So echoes Church teaching and the praiseworthy Dignitatis Humanae Institute.

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