May 21, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Lay people should consistently and with charity tell Catholic, pro-abortion politicians that they are disappointed, said Cardinal George Pell.
The Australian cardinal was in Front Royal, Va., last week to give the commencement address at Christendom College. While there, he was interviewed by LifeSiteNews.com.
When asked what he thought lay people should do regarding pro-abortion politicians, he said: “Lay people should tell the politicians that they're disappointed, and do it regularly, consistently and reasonably, not with hostility or a lack of charity.”
When pressed about what lay people should do if these politicians insist on their position but are adamant about their identity as Catholics, Cardinal Pell said: "You'd have to bring into question just to what extent they are straight up and down the line Catholics, and to what extent they remain Catholic. I mean, if they call themselves Catholics and on every significant public issue they don't line up with us, well at the very minimum I think they should go quiet on the Catholic labeling.”
Cardinal Pell acknowledged that there are “other [difficult] questions about whether or not they should be refused Communion.”
However, he said, “I think if a person is regularly supporting pro-abortion legislation in a way that is very, very difficult to divorce that voting from an explicitly pro-abortion attitude I think you should ask them, how come you feel that you're able to go to Communion?"