If anyone says that faith alone is sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist: let him be anathema. And that so great a Sacrament may not be unworthily received, and therefore unto death and condemnation, this holy Council ordains and declares that sacramental confession must necessarily be made beforehand by those whose conscience is burdened by mortal sin, however contrite they may consider themselves. If anyone moreover teaches the contrary or preaches or obstinately asserts, or even publicly by disputation shall presume to defend the contrary, by that fact itself he is excommunicated. (Denzinger-Hünermann 1661. Julius III, Council of Trent, Session XIV, October 11, 1551)
‘I hope it’s a real dialogue, because I think that’s the mantra of Pope Francis,’ said Archbishop Wilton Gregory about his relationship with Biden.
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 24, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, D.C., affirmed he will not deny giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion former Vice President Joe Biden, saying he hopes for a “conversational relationship.”
Speaking to America Magazine, Gregory, who is currently in Rome to be made a cardinal on Saturday, expressed his support for Biden’s wish to receive Holy Communion, despite being an ardent supporter of abortion.
Referring to his relationship with Biden, the archbishop said, “I hope it’s a real dialogue, because I think that’s the mantra of Pope Francis — that we should be a church in dialogue, even with those with whom we have some serious disagreements.”
The archbishop noted how Biden had received Communion during his eight years as vice president under President Barack Obama, and that “I’m not going to veer from that.”
Gregory added that Catholics knew the Church’s teaching regarding the “sacredness of human life from conception to natural death.” Accordingly, he does not think that he would be giving scandal in giving Holy Communion to Biden, who denies Catholic teaching on that point.
Gregory even inferred that giving Holy Communion to Biden was part of his pastoral duty: “On my part, it’s a matter of the responsibility that I have as the archbishop to be engaged and to be in dialogue with him, even in those areas where we obviously have some differences.”
Continuing, Archbishop Gregory called for “the capacity to have civil disagreements — serious disagreements, you know, really pointed disagreements — but done in such a way that the focus is on the argument, not on the demonization of the people with whom we disagree.”
Joe Biden has been very open about his support for abortion as well as gender ideology. He recently called abortion an “essential health service” and wishes to enshrine abortion into federal law.
Biden also advocates a number of policies which would promote LGBT ideology in everyday life in America, as well as across the world.
The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is always wrong, because it kills an innocent human being, thus violating the Church’s prohibition on murder, and that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved” (CCC 2270-2272; CCC 2357).
After Biden was denied receiving Holy Communion by a priest last year, in accordance with canon law, he stated, “It’s not a position that I’ve found anywhere else, including from the Holy Father, who gives me Communion.”
Cardinal Raymond Burke, former Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, gave an interview in September in which he referenced Biden, saying that “a Catholic may not support abortion in any shape or form because it is one of the most grievous sins against human life, and has always been considered to be intrinsically evil.”
Cardinal Burke: When Joe Biden Receives Communion He Commits a Sacrilege
Anyone in mortal sin is a child of wrath and an enemy of God
But since all mortal sins, even those of thought, make men children of wrath (Ep 2,3) and enemies of God, it is necessary to ask pardon for all of them from God by an open and humble confession. (Denzinger-Hünermann 1680. Council of Trent, Session XIII, October 11, 1551)
So important is it that confession be entire that if the penitent confesses only some of his sins and wilfully neglects to accuse himself of others which should be confessed, he not only does not profit by his confession, but involves himself in new guilt. Such an enumeration of sins cannot be called sacramental confession; on the contrary, the penitent must repeat his confession, not omitting to accuse himself of having, under the semblance of confession, profaned the sanctity of the Sacrament. (Catechism of Trent, 2400)
Cardinal Burke: Joe Biden is not a Catholic in ‘good standing’, should not receive Communion
No one conscious of mortal sin should approach the Holy Eucharist, however contrite he may seem to himself
Now ecclesiastical usage declares that this examination is necessary, that no one conscious of mortal sin, however contrite he may seem to himself, should approach the Holy Eucharist without a previous sacramental confession. This, the holy Synod has decreed, is always to be observed by all Christians, even by those priests on whom by their office it may be incumbent to celebrate, provided the recourses of a confessor be not lacking to them. But if in an urgent necessity a priest should celebrate without previous confession, let him confess as soon as possible [see n. 1138 ff.]. (Denzinger-Hünermann 1647. Council of Trent, Session XIII, October 11, 1551)
As Father Paul Kramer said: “The antipope and his apostate collaborators will be as sister Lucy said, supporters of the devil, those who work for evil without being afraid of anything.”
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