(LIFESITE NEWS) – Raymond Cardinal Burke, the former Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, has released a statement declaring that those who “publicly and obstinately violate the moral law” are in a state of apostasy, automatically excommunicated, and thus must not be permitted to receive Holy Communion.
Cardinal Burke, a doctor of canon law, entitled his work, a “Statement on the Reception of Holy Communion by Those Who Persist in Public Grave Sin.”
He explained that it had been written to clarify the question which Catholic and non-Catholics alike pose, with regard to how Catholics, particularly politicians, are being allowed to receive Holy Communion, whilst publicly promoting programs and laws which violate Church teaching.