Pope Benedict hadn’t even landed in Brazil,his first intercontinental trip and his first trip to Latin America, when he started threatening to kick people out of the Roman Catholic Church, which he leads. When asked on the Papel Plane if he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City, the Pope said he did support them and:

Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ,” he said. They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church… which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life).”
Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as “automatic excommunication” on themselves.

Currently in Brazil abortions are not available on demand but the issue may be brought up for a referendum.

Brazil has the most Catholics than any country in the world and the Pope’s arrival is being welcomed with more police protection than when President Bush visited. On this trip the Pope will canonize the first native born Brazilian saint, Antonio de Sant’Anna Galvao, a Franciscan monk credited with 5,000 miracle cures.

Via / Yahoo!