Indeed, Giuliani's Catholicism is more than flawed. If I understand his personal situation correctly, he should be described in the media as a "former Catholic" or a "lapsed Catholic." Is it accurate that he no longer practices the faith of his earlier life? I wish the media would focus on his religious practice as he practices it today and report their findings to the public instead of assuming that somehow he's a Catholic because he was as a child and as a young adult.

Archbishops DO NOT have the right to deny Communion to whoever he wants. The Catholic Church and these politically motivated archbishop have hijacked Christ's table for their own greed, power and sectarian motives. Who's table is it? It's Christ's and the invitation comes from Christ not from the Catholic Church and especially not from some bigoted archbishop. The archbishops should spend more time eliminating pedophiles among their ranks and less time interfering with politics. Why aren't they speaking out against killing for capital punishment and pre-emptive war. Are these lesser sins in regard to their First Commandment?

Mr. Berlinerblau brings up a very fascinating piece that I luckily/unluckily forgot about since 2004. I lived and continue to live in Boston, where in 2002, we experienced one of the biggest catastrophes in American Catholicism. Priests, entrusted by the public and God, decided to manipulate, hurt and abuse children. There may be no worse crime in the world, as those children will never lead normal, adult lives.

And the following is what really perturbs me. The same church officials who for years kept these abuses quiet and out of the eye of the law, had and still do have the audacity to deny a Catholic the most fundamental cornerstone of their belief: that God became man and shared himself with his friends in bread and wine. I cannot imagine something more deplorable to do to a Catholic, despite their beliefs or sins. Some of the best ministry alive is amidst the prisons, where murders and rapists are still able to receive the Eucharist because we are all sinners, no matter the degree or severity.

I'm sorry Pope Benedict, I truly am. I am sorry that we have gotten to the point whereby we are being selective as to who should receive Christ in all His mystery. These men, if they choose to deny Giuliani as they did Kerry the life giving bread and the saving cup, should be ostracized from the Church for making God in their image and not the other way around.

The idea that these nonsense issues often decide the outcome of our elections is sickening. I understand the importance of religion, but our founding fathers designed our country as a secular nation. But basically this is just another case of people (and even more so, the press) giving more weight to personality factors, than to the actual issues. Just like in the 2000 election, when all the media wanted to talk about was whether Gore was too cold, or too pompous, or whatever...

Giuliani should be disregarded because he has no respect for the constitution, and because contrary to the myth that the national media continues to propagate, he has a terrible record on terrorism prevention (putting the terrorism response center in the World Trade center, against the advice of his own aids, is just the start of it). But mostly his candidacy should be ignored, because he is too inexperienced. The media loves to go on about Obama's lack of experience. Giuliani makes Obama look seasoned. In what way does being Mayor of New York, prepare you to be president?

I understand that this may become an issue in the Republican primary. I'm aware of the influence that so called values voters have on that party. But this is a nonsense horse race issue. I think that MSM owes it to the country, to try and elevate the debate by covering the substantive policy issues. If they did that, I think Giuliani would already be disqualified in most voters' minds, and this communion story wouldn't even be worth mentioning.