“I was denied communion last night by the Catholic bishop here in Las Cruces and based on my political office,” State Sen. Joseph Cervantes tweeted on July 17. In 2019, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Peter Baldacchino, who belongs to the Neocatechumenal Way, as Bishop of Las Cruces, NM.

The Code of Canon Law, which Pope St. John Paul II promulgated in 1983, states that “those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty, and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion” (Canon 915).

Cervantes, a lawmaker endorsed by Planned Parenthood, added that “my new parish priest has indicated he will do the same after the last was run off. Please pray for church authorities as Catholicism transitions under Pope Francis.”