A Colorado Bishop, in one of strongest stands yet taken by a UA Roman Catholic church leader, says communion should be denied to people who vote for candidates supporting such issues as abortion rights, gay marriage, euthanasia and stem cell research.
In a pastoral letter to the 125,000 parishioners in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Bishop Michael Sheridan also warned that politicians opposed to church teachings on such issues and those who vote for them jeopardize their salvation.
"Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or for any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside full communion with the church and so jeopardize their salvation," the bishop wrote in a letter published this week in the diocesan monthly newspaper, the Herald.
"Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences," he added.
While some Catholic church leaders have suggested denying communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, none except Dr Sheridan are believed to have suggested that communion also be denied to the voters who support them.
The issue of whether Catholic candidates will support the church's position on abortion has come to a peak this year. President George Bush, a Protestant, opposes abortion while Democrat John Kerry, a Catholic, supports a woman's right to make that choice - although he says he is personally opposed to abortion.