Archbishop Gives Communion To Pro-Abortion Justin Trudeau

May 20, 2017

MONTREAL, May 19, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop of Montreal Christian Lépine has defended giving Holy Communion to Canada’s notoriously pro-abortion Catholic prime minister during Mass on Wednesday, describing it as “a gesture of hope.”

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received Holy Communion and was among the dignitaries who spoke from the sanctuary at a Mass marking Montreal’s 375th anniversary, and which CBC broadcast live from Notre Dame Cathedral.

Cardinal Gérald Lacroix of Quebec City, Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, and papal nuncio Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi were among the prelates who concelebrated with Lépine.

The event was widely publicized, with the Catholic Register running a photo on its Facebook page. Video of the Mass was also archived on CPAC.

Archbishop Lépine’s appointment to the see of Montreal in 2012 was seen as a sign of hope for the Church in Quebec. His deep devotion to the Church's teachings and practices were a marked contrast with his predecessor.

His appointment came amid outcries from abortion activists. Yet he has gladly affirmed the Church’s teachings on life, marriage, and sexuality. He has led Eucharistic processions as a sign of contradiction through the heart of the once-Catholic city. For the first time, the Archbishop of Montreal has made it a practice to attend Ottawa’s National March for Life.

The Church’s Code of Canon Law requires ministers of the Eucharist to deny Communion to those who are excommunicated or are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin.” This law is based in St. Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11:29: “Any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.”

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, affirmed in a 2004 letter from the Vatican that this law applies to pro-abortion politicians.

The Church views denying Communion in these cases as an act of compassion. It is intended both to protect the individual from committing the sacrilege of consuming the Host while in a state of grave sin, and to avoid the scandal of appearing to show approval for the individual’s gravely sinful actions.

“Justin Trudeau is a paradigm example of a high-profile, apostate Catholic who should be denied Communion, ” Georges Buscemi, president of the Quebec Life Coalition, told LifeSiteNews.

“It stands to reason that a politician like him, who makes it his life purpose to destroy the Catholic faith and knowledge of the natural moral law in Canada, should be asked to not present himself for Communion, ” Buscemi said.

“This should be done out of love for him and the ones who would be scandalized by seeing his evil behaviour affirmed by a bishop.”

In 2012, Buscemi’s Quebec Life Coalition gave him a ‘Defender of Life’ award “as a token of what he has done for Life and Family in the past, and as a sign of our support for all his future projects in defense of life and the family.”

Archbishop Lépine told LifeSiteNews on Thursday that he gave Trudeau Holy Communion as a “gesture of hope” and “to keep in contact and how to keep a bridge open, if I may say so.”

There’s a “need to make the distinction between the human being and what the person does, or says or thinks, ” and “to stay focused on who the person is, a human being called by Christ, called to true freedom, ” he said in a telephone call from Montreal.

“I think one of the difficulties is that we live in a dialectic of opposition, pressure groups against pressure groups, way of thinkings against way of thinking, but behind that we’re all human beings so I’m trying to reach that level.”

LifeSiteNews asked Lépine if he had attempted to meet with Trudeau before the Mass to speak to him about his pro-abortion position.

The archbishop responded that “private communications” were “private, ” and added that “publicly, there’s a need for communication, and there’s been communication, but there are many forces going on in society, so yet again, it’s a matter of hope.”

When asked how he would respond to those who see this as a sacrilege, Lépine again pointed to the distinction between “the person and the acts of the person and what the person says.”

It’s “going too far” if someone “feels to be rejected as a person, ” he told LifeSiteNews.

“It’s how to discuss what is said or what is done without rejecting the person as a person and how to do it. So this is a challenge, that’s what I try to do.”

As for causing scandal, Lépine countered that “it can cause scandal to the faithful if you cut someone.”

He reiterated that the distinction must be made between the person and what that person “does or says or thinks.”and that “you don’t lose sight that it’s a human being created in the image of God.”

Lépine said efforts are underway to establish contact with Trudeau. “The call is happening, but if you want to call, you have to be connected, you have to meet somewhere.”

The Catholic Church teaches that abortion — the deliberate and intended killing of the child in the womb — is a grave sin and cannot be justified under any circumstances.

It is well known that Trudeau has persistently and unapologetically promoted abortion throughout his political career.

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