Archbishop Burke: No Communion for Public Sinners

When Archbishop Burke left the U.S to become prefect of the Apostolic Signature many progressive Catholics hoped they had heard the last of his "conservative" voice. But in an interview given this week he re-affirmed that communion should be denied to Catholics, and especially politicians, who public support abortion rights. More of the story is at CNA.

“If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and
attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation
to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing
him from committing a sacrilege,” he added.
“We must avoid giving people the
impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist,”
the archbishop continued. “Secondly, there could be another form of
scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this
person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really
not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive
Communion.”
“If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately
upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average
person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it
is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother’s womb,” he warned.