Spiritually Lethal Message

Kansas: Archbishop Bars Governor from Holy Communion

Kansas, May. 9, 2008 (CWNews.com) – Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City has announced that Governor Kathleen Sebelius should not receive Communion because of her support for legal abortion.

In a column appearing on May 9 in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven, the archbishop said that Governor Sebelius has sent a “spiritually lethal message” by implying that she could remain a Catholic in good standing while supporting abortion on demand.

The archbishop’s column cited in particular the governor’s veto of the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, which would have required abortionists to inform women about the effects of the procedure and alternatives to abortion.

The governor’s stand in favor of abortion is particularly painful, Archbishop Naumann wrote, because Sebelius is a Catholic. He reported that he had met with her “several times over many months to discuss with her the grave spiritual and moral consequences of her public actions.” Because the governor has not rejected his pleas and her public stand constitutes a scandal to the faithful, the archbishop said that he has now directed her to refrain from receiving Communion. Archbishop Naumann reported that he has asked Governor Sebelius to accept this directive, so that she will “not require from me any additional pastoral actions.”

The governor will be welcomed back to Communion, the archbishop wrote, if she acknowledges her error, goes to Confession, and makes “a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion.”

Latin is Online at the Vatican

Vatican Makes Latin-language Documents Available Online

by John Thavis | Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — .

Without fanfare, the Vatican’s www.vatican.va site has made hundreds of papal and other documents available in a new Latin-language section.

The Latin area went live May 9. Visitors clicking on “Sancta Sedes” (Latin for “Holy See”) are taken to a menu of documents arranged by pontificate or Roman Curia office.

Also posted is the complete neo-Vulgate Latin version of the Bible and Latin editions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Code of Canon Law and the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

The papal pages — “Summi Pontifices” — cover the last five popes and include encyclicals and other major texts, as well as a selection of speeches, sermons and messages.

The last entry on the Latin pages provides information about “Latinitas,” the Vatican foundation that promotes the use of Latin.

The other languages used by the Vatican Web site are all modern: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

In recent years, some Vatican officials have made efforts to revive Latin as the church’s lingua franca, but it’s been an uphill battle. Fewer and fewer seminarians study Latin, and even many Vatican employees now do not know the language.

Latin has been virtually abandoned at major church gatherings like synods of bishops.

But the ancient language continues to be used at international papal liturgies. Last year Pope Benedict XVI expanded the possible use of the Tridentine-rite Mass, which is celebrated in Latin.