Will the Pope Excommunicate Giuliani?

Begone from the Church, foul abortionist!

Image from FOX News, who deserve to have their intellectual property
ripped off because they are part of the right-wing noise machine that
has done such damage to our country.

Excommunication for Giuliani? That would frickin' rock. I wonder how Rudy would respond. Will it happen? Probably not, but Pope Benedict XVI has been talkin' tough on politicians who support reproductive freedom:

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Wednesday warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion.

(HT: Feministing. BTW, I wonder what kind of in-flight service you get aboard the papal plane.) Anyway, readers of this blog know that Giuliani supports abortion rights, even to the extent that he gave to Planned Parenthood mulitple times. So I think Rudy is an ideal candidate for excommunication. His divorces and adultery probably won't help him either. Rudy wouldn't be the first target of the Pope's disapproval based on this issue. There's already talk of some parliamentarians in Mexico getting excommunicated...oh wait, this just in from the LA Times:

The pope, it turns out, has an editor.

OK, we just have to pause for a moment for a small diversion. Wow. The Pope has an editor. That would be such a fun job. I can just imagine my high school reunion:

Highly successful classmate who makes oodles of money and has a plethora of nubile hotties on call: So, Zac, what have you been doing with your self recently?

Zac: I edit the Pope.

Highly successful classmate who makes oodles of money and has a plethora of nubile hotties on call: [slinks off in abject humiliation]

You just couldn't top that. Not even being the Pope would be better than being editor of the Pope. There's a Prince song that goes, "You can be the President, I'd rather be the Pope." Well, ex-glyphboy, you can have the Papacy, because my red pen is gonna make your Pontiffical ass say whatever I want.

OK, let's end that fantasy and get back to the world in which I'm not the Pope's editor. (Heck, I barely even edit myself). So what did the Vatican's Secretariat of State do to His Holiness' words?

In the 25-minute news conference, Benedict was asked if he agreed with excommunication for Mexican lawmakers who last month legalized abortion in Mexico City. "Yes, this excommunication is not something arbitrary," he answered, before going on to explain that such punishment is part of church law.

The transcript on the Vatican website removes the "Yes, this" and begins, "Excommunication is ... " — making his remarks seem more generic and unconnected to the case in Mexico.

Now why would they do such a thing?

The Vatican apparently wanted to tone down a potentially explosive statement by the pontiff on a highly sensitive subject. But judging from the headlines across Latin America on Thursday, it might be too late.

Maybe it's popcorn time. I really wish the Catholic Church would change its stances on birth control and abortion. Many Church stances just seem silly (e.g. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were never married) but these stances on reproductive issues cause all sorts of major social problems.