According to Reuters, another cardinal has announced that he favors denying communion to any Roman Catholic politician who publicly supports the rights enshrined in the US Constitution as interpreted by our Supreme Court.

"In remarks that could influence the U.S. presidential race, a leading Vatican cardinal said on Friday that a politician who is unambiguously in favor of abortion should be denied communion at Mass."

The issue has sparked debate in the United States over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, the top Vatican cardinal in charge of the sacraments, was asked at a news conference whether priests should refuse communion to a politician who is unambiguously pro-abortion.

"Yes," he replied. "If the person should not receive it, then it should not be given. Objectively, the answer is there."

Okay, two quick points. First, let me just note for the record that it's pretty insulting when the people who brought us the term "Jesuitical casuistry" suddenly start pretending that the distinction between supporting abortion and supporting abortion rights is somehow beyond their ken.

And second, given the Church's long and painful history on a whole of range of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms -- from the right to free speech to the protection against cruel and unusual punishment -- the Vatican might want to think long and hard before it instructs American Catholics to put not their faith in Supreme Court justices. Frankly, it may not like the answer it gets back.

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