Pope John Paul II Bars Priests from Elective Office; Liberal Rev. Drinan Forced to Leave U.S. Congress
The Vatican confirmed on this day that Pope John Paul II had issued a directive barring all Catholic priests from holding public office. In the U.S. the directive affected Rev. Robert F. Drinan, a liberal Democratic member of the House of Representatives.
Catholic Church spokespersons argued that the policy was a “longstanding” part of Canon Law. Some observers, however, argued that it had often been overlooked worldwide.
Drinan was elected to Congress in 1970, in large part because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. During his five terms, he became a prominent liberal on a wide range of issues. The major controversy involved his support for public funding of abortions, which the Catholic Church opposed. Drinan stated that he personally opposed abortion but regarded public funding as an important social policy for poor women.
In July 1973 Drinan was the first member of Congress to introduce a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon because of his secret bombing of Cambodia in the Vietnam War. The later movement to impeach Nixon was based on his abuses of power in the Watergate scandal. Drinan was a member of the Judiciary Committee, which approved impeachment charges against Nixon in the summer of 197, but did not approve Drinan’s motion regarding the bombing of Cambodia.
The only other Catholic priest affected by the Pope’s Directive was Rev. Robert John Cornell of Wisconsin, who was elected to the House in 1974, but defeated for re-election in 1978. He withdrew from a planned re-election bid in 1980 when the Pope issued his Directive.
Drinan reportedly appealed to Catholic Church officials for an exemption to the Pope’s Directive, but was denied. He then withdrew from his planned re-election effort in 1980. He subsequently taught at Geogetown Law Center from 1981 to 2007, specializing in ethics and international human rights law. He died on January 28, 2007.
Drinan was succeeded in Congress by Barney Frank, who became an important leader in the House of Representatives, a leader of the gay rights movement, and who eventually married his same-sex partner.
Read: Robert F. Drinan, The Fractured Dream: America’s Divisive Moral Choices (1991)
And: Robert F. Drinan, Can God & Caesar Coexist? Balancing Religious Freedom and International Law (2005)
And more about Barney Frank: Barney Frank, Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-sex Marriage (2015)