PHILADELPHIA _ The head of the Catholic League on Thursday accused Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney of "misusing his public office" to wage a war on the Catholic Church.
Bill Donohue, president of New York-based, conservative anti-discrimination group, was responding to a tweet from Kenney saying Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput's guidelines on who can receive communion were "not Christian."
On Friday, Chaput posted on the archdiocesan website six pages of guidelines for clergy and other local church leaders on how to implement "Amoris Laetitia," a major document on the family Pope Francis issued in April.
Some theologians have said Amoris calls on church leaders to be more welcoming of Catholics who are estranged from parish life because the church disapproves of their sexual relationships.
Chaput was emphatic that this does not mean Francis has reformulated the church's traditional ban on Communion for those Catholics who live in what the church views as sin _ such as divorced Catholics who remarry outside the church and remain sexually active, sexually active gays and cohabiting unmarried couples.
On Wednesday, after a story about Chaput's teaching appeared, Kenney posted this tweet: "Jesus gave us gift of Holy Communion because he so loved us. All of us. Chaput's actions are not Christian."
"Kenney disagrees. Fine," Donohue said. "But it is an abuse of his office to use his platform as mayor to publicly intrude on what is clearly an internal church matter."
Donohue noted that Kenney, who was raised Catholic, had been critical of the church and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in the past.
"The mayor is demonstrably un-American in misusing his public office to conduct his personal war on the Catholic Church," Donohue said, urging supporters to email the mayor.
Kenney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
