Roman Catholic Cardinal Wilton Gregory issued a statement Friday acknowledging a protest organized by the activist group "Catholics for Choice" on Thursday night. In it, the cardinal stated that the group and its members had excommunicated themselves by their advocacy for abortion, comparing them to Judas Iscariot, the apostle who according to the Bible betrayed Jesus and sold him to the authorities.
"The true voice of the Church was only to be found within The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception last evening. There, people prayed and offered the Eucharist asking God to restore a true reverence for all human life," Gregory wrote.
Cardinal Gregory is the archbishop of Washington, D.C.
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On Thursday night, Catholics for Choice staged a show light protest at the National Basilica, which they covered with pro-abortion messages. They were confronted by a small group of Catholics who at various points stood in front of the projectors and heckled the protesters.
"Those whose antics projected words on the church building demonstrated by those pranks that they really are external to the Church and they did so at night – John 13:30," the cardinal added.
A baptized Catholic who is "external to the Church," also known as excommunicated, cannot validly receive the Eucharist until repenting and reentering the Church.
The cardinal's mention of John 13:30 and of nighttime is a reference to the apostle Judas, who sold Jesus to Roman authorities for 30 pieces of silver.
According to the passage, which takes place during the Last Supper, "As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. It was night."
The president of Catholics for Choice, Jamie Manson, responded to the cardinal's letter, saying, "We went to the Basilica to draw attention to the fact that women in the church have abortions. These are likely the women who serve as his lectors and Eucharistic ministers; who sew his vestments and wash his dishes. To ignore them is to betray them."
"We are part of this church. We are asking to be heard. And we can quote the Bible, too – Romans 8:38-39," Manson wrote.
The cited passage reads, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Catholics for Choice has previously lambasted the Church over abortion, LGBT issues and the political power of the papacy. It rejects Catholic dogma and does not believe in the authority of the Church in matters of morality.
Catholics for Choice frequently cite concepts of conscience and free will to bolster their claims of Catholicism, but the church has rejected such claims on the basis of Canon Law via the continued excommunication of those who assist in procuring an abortion.
According to the Catholic Catechism, "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication."
Catholics for Choice is not recognized by the Church as a Catholic organization.
Speaking about excommunications and the inability of pro-choice activists to receive the Eucharist, Pope Francis previously said, "Those people who are not in the community cannot take communion, because they are out of the community," the pope continued. "It is not a punishment: Communion is linked to the community."
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Pope Francis took aim at cancel culture during an address earlier this year, warning that it is a kind of "one-track thinking" that risk silencing important voices.
"Cancel culture is invading many circles and public institutions," the pope said in the address to 183 countries accredited to the Holy See. "As a result, agendas are increasingly dictated by a mindset that rejects the natural foundations of humanity and the cultural roots that constitute the identity of many people."
The pope added that "under the guise of defending diversity, it ends up canceling all sense of identity," which risks silencing people that "defend a respectful and balanced understanding of various sensibilities."
He also warned against attempts to rewrite history without understanding the context of the times in which people lived, arguing that "any historical situation must be interpreted in accordance with a hermeneutics of that particular time."
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