Blogger: Cuomo shouldn’t receive Communion

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y.

A consultant for the Vatican’s high court says he believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo shouldn’t receive the Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion because he is not married to his live-in girlfriend, Food Network star Sandra Lee.

Edward Peters, who’s also a conservative Catholic blogger and seminary professor in Detroit, called the living arrangement “public concubinage” and said that Cuomo’s taking Communion would be sacrilegious.

But Catholic bishops don’t agree. Bishops and priests have allowed the Catholic Democrat to receive Communion for years, including at a Mass last month marking his inauguration. The practice appears to conform to church law.

“My religion is a private matter, and that is not something I discuss in the political arena,” Cuomo said Wednesday.

The bishop in Albany agreed, saying to pass judgment on others, even those in public life, is inappropriate.

“There are norms of the church governing the sacraments which Catholics are expected to observe,” said Albany Diocese Bishop Howard J. Hubbard. “As a matter of pastoral practice, we should not comment publicly on anything which should be addressed privately, regardless if the person is a public figure or a private citizen.”