Illinois bishop says politicians who helped legalize gay marriage should not receive communion

An Illinois bishop, who issued a decree banning funeral rites for same-sex couples last month, has doubled down on his stance by declaring that politicians who helped make same-sex marriage legal must not receive Communion.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who heads the Catholic diocese of Springfield, Illinois, recently released a video in which he explains his decree as well as basic Catholic teaching on why same-sex marriage is immoral.

He explained that Catholics who support or engage in seriously sinful behavior must not present themselves for Communion unless they go to Confession and repent. He said that this should also apply to politicians who made homosexual marriage legal as well as those who "aid and abet abortion."

"Those politicians and judges who helped to make same-sex marriage legal and who aid and abet abortion, for example, by voting for taxpayer funding for abortion, should not receive Holy Communion unless they repent, go to confession and amend their lives," he said, as reported by CNS News.

Paprocki noted that critics have been urging him to rescind his decree, but he insisted that it is just a "rather straightforward application of existing Catholic doctrine and canon law to the new situation of legal marital status being granted in civil law to same-sex couples," which he says is contrary to the Church's teachings.

The archbishop explained that his decree does not focus on LGBT individuals, but on same-sex marriage. He argued that no one has been denied sacraments or funeral rites for simply having a homosexual orientation.

"Even someone who had entered into a same-sex 'marriage' can receive the sacraments and be given ecclesiastical funeral rites if they repent and renounce their 'marriage,'" he said.

Paprocki further clarified that those who have sexual relations outside of marriage, whether heterosexual or homosexual, should not receive Holy Communion unless they repent. He explained that it also applies those who were divorced and remarried without an annulment.

However, he noted that couples who choose to live as brother and sister can receive Communion as long as there is no public scandal. He said that it also applies to two men who choose to live chastely with each other as "brother and brother," or two women, who choose to live with each other as "sister and sister."

The decree drew criticisms from some activist groups after Paprocki issued it in early June. Christopher Pett, the incoming president of DignityUSA, argued that Pope Francis himself has not issued such a decree for the Catholic Church and that he called for a more pastoral and respectful approach towards LGBTQ people.

Paprocki stated at the time that the decree was necessary "in light of changes in the law and in our culture regarding these issues."