Washington, DC, May. 22, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The US bishops' conference has issued a rebuke to a group of 18 Democratic legislators who objected to a statement by Pope Benedict XVI that lawmakers who support abortion should not receive the Eucharist.
 
 The statement released by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Friday, May 18, confirms that an individual who commits a mortal sin "should not approach the Eucharist until going to confession." While clearly affirming the Church's stand abortion, the statement stops short of saying that legislators who support the practice should not receive Communion. Instead the bishops' conference urges lawmakers "to educate themselves about the teaching of the Church, and to seek pastoral advice so that they can make informed decisions with consistency and integrity."
 
 The USCCB statement-- issued by Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the USCCB-- rebukes the Democratic members of the House of Representatives for their statement, saying that it "both misrepresents the Holy Father's remarks and implies that the Church does not have a right to voice its teaching in the public square."
 
 The Vatican, the USCCB notes, "has made clear that neither the Mexican bishops nor the Holy Father have excommunicated any legislator." The Vatican, in a statement issued to clarify remarks that Pope Benedict made to reporters during his airplane flight to Brazil on May 9, had also made it clear that the Pope intended to indicate that Catholic legislators who support legal abortion should not receive Communion.
 
 The USCCB statement affirms that "every Catholic is obliged to respect human life, from conception until natural death," and later adds that this "is a matter of life and death." It does not indicate what penalty, if any, should be applied to those Catholics who do not honor that obligation.