Fine Gael TD Colm Burke said he had been left shocked after being refused communion with the priest, Fr Gabriel Burke. The junior Health Minister said the priest involved told him he had been "excommunicated" from the Catholic Church.

The incident occurred at the funeral of a long-standing Fine Gael member and parishioner where three priests were distributing Communion.

Fr Burke said that "as a senator, Colm Burke voted for abortion after the 2018 referendum and he knows the teaching of the [Catholic] Church that any politician who voted [for] abortion cannot receive communion".

The priest argued that Mr Burke excommunicated himself by voting for abortion legislation. This is known as Latae Sententiae excommunication, where the act incurs automatic excommunication.

Fr Burke stated that neither he nor the Pope excommunicated Colm Burke, but the politician's actions caused it.

Minister Burke, who regularly attends Mass, questioned the priest's authority to refuse Communion, citing Canon Law. The Irish politician contacted the Cloyne diocese for clarification and is writing to Bishop William Crean for further explanation.

Act with their conscience

The action by the priest has drawn condemnation from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP).

In their statement, the ACP noted how, prior to the Eighth Amendment being repealed, "Irish women were travelling abroad to avail of abortion services, while legislators and citizens looked the other way".

It said that "like every member of the Catholic Church, public representatives must act in accordance with their conscience. It is not the role of the priest to judge the conscience of another person. The priest does not own the Eucharist and would do well to ponder the statement of Pope Francis that he has never refused the Eucharist to anyone".

In 2021, Pope Francis stated that Communion denial for pro-abortion politicians should be handled pastorally. He opposed public condemnations that aimed to "excommunicate" Catholics who disagreed with church teachings.

Sources

The Irish Times

Belfast Live

CathNews New Zealand

The landslide result overwhelmingly supported repealing the 1983 constitutional ban on abortions.

The referendum results showed that among 2.1 million votes cast, 1.4 million were in favour of repealing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

The Amendment says a mother and unborn child have an "equal right to life."

About 723,000 voters wanted to retain the ban.

In a Facebook post, Save the Eighth activist John McGuirk said he was "broken-hearted" over the result.

Addressing fellow No campaigners, he said: "Today will be a hard and difficult day, but hold your heads high. It is never wrong to speak up for what you believe in.

"It is wrong to stay silent, and especially wrong to stay silent when the crowd is totally against you."

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who is a medical doctor, campaigned for ending the ban.

He hailed the result as a "quiet revolution."

"The people have said that we want a modern Constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and we respect them to make the right decision and the right choices about their healthcare," Varadkar said.

The proposed legislation will allow abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortions will also be allowed up to the 24th week in exceptional circumstances.

Irish Minister for Health, Simon Harris, will seek the cabinet's backing on Tuesday to draft the new legislation.

Northern Ireland has similarly strict abortion laws. UK Prime Minister Theresa May is now facing calls to make changes to these laws.

Northern Ireland will soon become the only part of the UK and Ireland with an almost blanket ban on terminations.

At Dublin Castle on Saturday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and her deputy Michelle O'Neill held up a sign saying "The north is next."

Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt, who is responsible for the women and equalities brief in the British government, said the referendum signalled a "historic and great day for Ireland" and a "hopeful one for Northern Ireland."

Until the law is changed, seeking or providing an abortion in Ireland will continue to be a criminal offence that carries up to 14 years in jail.

Between 1980 and 2016, more than 170,000 women travelled from Ireland to access abortion services in another country, according to the Irish Family Planning Association.

Source

• ABC News
• The Guardian
• The Daily Telegraph
• BBC
• Image: F3News

He says Ireland should be "proud" that it protects the unborn in its constitution. Read more

The money was donated to help Amnesty's "My Body My Rights" campaign to overturn the Eighth Amendment that protects the unborn child's right to life.

Ireland's Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) has ordered Amnesty to pay back the €137,000 given to them by Soros's Open Societies Foundation.

The grant contravenes electoral law.

The 1997 Electoral Act forbids donations of over €100 from overseas groups for "electoral purposes".

Amnesty says it had been transparent about receiving the donation, and Sipo originally told them the payment did not break the law, and later reversed the decision.

Colm O'Gorman, who is the executive director of Amnesty in Ireland, says Amnesty will not return the money.

"We will consider every opportunity to challenge this decision. I have repeatedly made it clear that we will challenge this. We are really clear about this.

"This amounts to the targeting of organisations purely for their work on human rights and equality issues," he says.

O'Gorman says the ruling "overlooks the fact that Amnesty International is completely independent of any political ideology, economic interest or religion".

He says he thinks Sipo is being manipulated by pro-life activists.

Amnesty is taking legal advice on the matter, and says the Soros grant accounted for nearly 2.5 per cent of its total annual income.

Returning it would set "a dangerous precedent," Amnesty claims.

Cora Sherlock of the Irish Pro-Life Campaign does not agree with O'Gorman's views on the matter.

"Today's statement from Amnesty is nothing more than a public relations exercise to disguise the fact that they have been receiving vast sums of money from abroad to fund their campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment.

"Amnesty are behaving like they are above the law and are hiding behind the term ‘human rights' as a justification for everything they do."

Sherlock says when it gave Amnesty the money, the Open Society Foundation said "it was to assist the coordination of groups in Ireland with a view to repealing the 8th Amendment and taking away legal protection for the baby in the womb,".

She says the Open Society Foundation's involvement "represents a gross interference in our democracy and in safeguarding the right to life.

"Amnesty should immediately return the money and stop trying to portray itself as a victim in all of this."

Source

• Irish Times
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Fact Rider