With public statements that he is "pro-choice" on the abortion issue, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who professes to be a Catholic, has cut himself off from the Sacraments of the Church by publicly contradicting Pope Benedict, says the editor of Canada's leading Catholic magazine.

Mr. McGuinty was described in news sources as "both Catholic and pro-choice" after telling a media scrum on May 15, in reference to abortion, that he has "a different constituency than does the Pope. I am responsible for representing all kinds of people from all kinds of different backgrounds, different faiths, different cultures, different traditions. There's one particular aspect of myself that is in common with the Pope and (that is) I happen to be Catholic. But I have other responsibilities as well . I think it is pretty clear that there are very few political leaders who would allow themselves and their actions to be formed exclusively by the dictates of the Church."

Nonsense, replies Father Alphonse de Valk, editor of Catholic Insight magazine. "It is impossible to be a Catholic and to publicly support abortion. The Magisterium of the Church has solemnly declared abortion to be an intrinsic evil, directly contradicting God's reason and revelation. Abortion is neither a 'right,' nor is it acceptable. It is wholly evil."