Giuliani's Catholicism

It's not unusual for Rudy Giuliani to be grilled on his faith. Once again on the campaign trail, Giuliani was asked about his Catholicism.

That bugs me, especially since presidential candidate Joe Biden seems to get a free pass on being Catholic.

Biden loves to say that he's Catholic, yet the media don't dwell on it. Maybe that's because Biden is so irrelevant in Election 2008 that no one bothers.

When it comes to front-runner Giuliani, it's a totally different story.

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that whether he was a practicing Catholic was a personal matter as he declined to answer questions about his religion.

Addressing a town-hall meeting in Iowa, the former New York mayor was asked whether he considered himself a "traditional, practicing Roman Catholic." An audience member also called on Giuliani to discuss the role his faith played in making decisions on issues such as abortion.

"My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not so good Catholic, I prefer to leave to the priests," Giuliani said. "That would be a much better way to discuss it. That's a personal discussion and they have a much better sense of how good a Catholic I am or how bad a Catholic I am."

Giuliani is alone among the major Republican candidates in favoring abortion rights, a practice that the Catholic Church opposes. Some church officials have suggested that candidates who favor abortion rights should be denied the sacrament of communion.

On a personal level, Giuliani has been married three times, with one annulment and one divorce. Catholics who are divorced and have remarried are not permitted to receive communion.

...The first questioner at the town-hall meeting mentioned President Bush's success in winning the support of Catholic voters and pushed Giuliani to explain his religious faith.

"That's a matter of individual conscience," Giuliani said. "I don't think there should be a religious test for public office."

That answer didn't satisfy questioner Thomas Fritzsche of Davenport, Iowa.

"Of course he didn't answer my question," said Fritzsche.

The lib media are really a disgrace.

If questioner Thomas Fritzsche is dissatisfied with Giuliani's answer, then that's his right.

How often are AP articles written about Democrat candidates and their faith?

It always seems to be the conservatives that come under scrutiny.

Whether it's Mitt Romney the Mormon or Rudy Giuliani the "bad" Catholic, conservatives are expected to discuss their faith life, like it's an Achilles' heel.

I think Giuliani gave an appropriate answer to the question.

An even better answer than saying he would let priests determine the degree to which he is a "good or not so good Catholic" would be this:

Judgments about my religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not so good Catholic, I prefer to leave to GOD.

Fritzsche and questioners of his ilk should take it up with Him.