A Catholic priest has banned Democratic vice presidential bet Tim Kaine from showing up at his church and taking the Holy Communion.
In a post on Twitter, Father Thomas Petri, vice president and academic dean of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C., told Kaine, "Do us both a favor. Don't show up in my communion line. I take Canon 915 seriously. It'd be embarrassing for you & for me."
Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church states that "those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion."
Petri also tweeted that Kaine "is identified as Catholic. But he thinks abortion is fine & women should be priests. He's either poorly catechized or a dissenter."
"Self-identified Catholics are not a 'thing' in Catholicism. If you don't believe our central tenets, you're not Catholic," he told him.
According to the Canon Law, "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life."
Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia, is a supporter of abortion yet claims to be pro-life and a faithful Catholic, according to Life Site News.
He expressed support to abstinence-based sex education and efforts to reduce abortions in 2005. He was criticised by the NARAL pro-abortion group for authorising the sale of "Choose Life" licence plates.
After he was picked by Clinton as her running mate, NARAL praised Kaine for his pro-abortion stance in the U.S. Senate.
It said that while Kaine "has been open about his personal reservations about abortion, he's maintained a 100% pro-choice voting record in the U.S. Senate."
NARAL said Kaine voted against abortion bans and efforts to defund abortion provider Planned Parenthood.
"When he was Governor, Tim Kaine took positions we disagreed with and actively campaigned against. We're pleased that since then, his votes and public statements have been consistently in favour of trusting women to make our own decisions," the group said.
Kaine once said that he's "a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade and women being able to make these decisions" but said he is "personally opposed" to abortion.
Last September, he used Pope Francis' visit to the U.S. to score Republicans for trying to pass a pro-life bill.
"The Republicans attempted to use the forthcoming Papal visit to force a vote on a federal abortion ban that has already been struck down by numerous federal courts as unconstitutional," Kaine wrote on Facebook.
Kaine added that there's nothing in his Catholic faith that suggested he "should support legislation that violates the Constitution."
Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN after Kaine was picked as vice presidential bet that he "is someone that the progressive community can be proud of."
