Baker, Oregon, Jul. 22, 2004 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker City, Oregon, in an interview with Catholic Online, said he agreed with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (bio - news) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who said that pro-abortion politicians must be refused Communion. He added that he answers to the Vatican, not the US bishops' conference, on this matter.

When asked directly if he would refuse Communion to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a Catholic who espouses pro-abortion policy positions, should he present himself in the Baker City diocese, Vasa said, "Absolutely."

After the US bishops decided in their Denver meeting last month to throw the question back onto the bishops in their dioceses, it has shone a light on the positions of bishops who have had to take individual stands on what to do about pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

Answering that he agreed with Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis and Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, who have made some of the strongest statements thus far, Bishop Vasa said, "I literally could not give Holy Communion to a professed and actively committed pro-choice politician."

Bishop Vasa also said that the US bishops had not been given the whole story at their Denver retreat. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, heading a task force of bishops formed to come up with recommendations on the issue, withheld the text of a definitive memorandum from Cardinal Ratzinger from the bishops, but instead summarized it in a way that some observers said contradicted the original intent. In that document, Ratzinger said that pro-abortion politicians, after appropriate warnings, "must" be refused Communion. Vasa confirmed that the crucial instruction from Rome, which had been written expressly for the Denver meeting, was not given to the bishops.

Vasa said, "As I recall, Cardinal McCarrick made reference to some letter, but I did not see a copy of the letter at the meeting. I don't know if the committee writing the 'Statement,' entitled 'Catholics in Political Life,' was given a copy of the letter." However the task force's interim report, presented to the bishops for their use in drafting the statement, suggested the opposite, warning against refusing Communion.

A recent letter from Ratzinger verified that the original memorandum, which was obtained and published by an Italian media outlet, was authentic. The letter also noted that the statement issued by the US bishops, as opposed to the recommendations of McCarrick's task force, was "very much in harmony with the general principles" of his memorandum. The "Catholics in Political Life" statement, while it did leave the decision to deny Communion up to local bishops, clarified that it must be done "in accord with the established canonical and pastoral principles." Of note, Canon 915 states that those "who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Communion."

Bishop Vasa was asked why McCarrick might have given conflicting information to the bishops: "Do the US bishops now teach that it is correct for one bishop to deny John Kerry the Eucharist while another bishop, perhaps in a diocese just 10 miles away, mandates his 'ministers of Holy Communion' to give Kerry the Eucharist?"

Vasa replied, "I answer to the Holy See, I don't answer to the USCCB [US Conference of Catholic Bishops]. The June memorandum of Cardinal Ratzinger should have a greater impact on the decision of individual bishops in their own dioceses than the 'Statement' of the USCCB, which seems to give broader latitude to the judgment of the bishops."