Vatican Warns Kerry Not to Receive Communion

A top Vatican official close to the pope, Cardinal Francis Arinze, emphasized today that priests must not give communion to pro-abortion politicians who claim to be Catholic.

Arinze, a Nigerian who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II, did not comment specifically on whether presidential candidate John Kerry should be excommunicated.

But the inference was clear - and Reuters news wire as well as others said the cardinal's remarks were a clear shot across Kerry's bow.

The cardinal left no doubt about Kerry by saying that an "unambiguously pro-abortion" politician "is not fit" to receive communion.

"If they should not receive, then they should not be given," he noted.

The cardinal's directive "could influence the U.S. presidential race," Reuters observed.

Already several leading Catholic laity and clergy have told Kerry that he is excommunicated from the Church because of his abortion stance.

Kerry, meanwhile, planned to campaign with pro-choice groups today and denounce President Bush's greatest success in human rights: a ban on gruesome partial-birth abortions.