never say never

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Feb 15, 2006

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, who is frequently mentioned by the media (if not by his fellow cardinals) as papabile, was in St. Louis this week, speaking out against a) poverty and b) the Bush administration. You can see immediately why reporters love him, and the Post-Dispatch story follows suit. The story has room to note that the cardinal is fluent in 9 languages, but not quite enough room to point out that a few years back, he was saying that the sex-abuse scandal was driven by media persecution of the Church.

In St. Louis, one very hot topic among Catholics is whether a pro-abortion politician should receive Communion. Archbishop Raymond Burke says No. But Cardinal Rodriguez sideswipes his host, telling a reporter that "personally, I could never deny Holy Communion to a person. It would be a public scandal."

Never, Your Eminence? Would you give Communion to Hitler, then? Because if you did, that would be a public scandal-- of the sort that Archbishop Burke is trying to avoid. Thanks a lot for your help.