Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., made public May 9 a series of discussions he has had with Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius about receiving Communion.

Sibelius, a Catholic, recently vetoed a bill that would have required information about the development of an unborn baby and abortion alternatives be given to women considering abortion.

Archbishop Naumann wrote in a column in The Leaven, the archdiocesan newspaper, that he recently returned to Kansas after the “exhilarating experience of participating in Pope Benedict XVI’s pastoral visit to the United States.”

The issue of Catholic pro-abortion political leaders receiving Communion became part of the Pope’s visit when several such politicians insisted on receiving Communion at papal Masses.

Archbishop Naumann said he has met with the governor several times to discuss with her “the grave spiritual and moral consequences of her public actions by which she has cooperated in the procurement of abortions performed in Kansas.

“It has been my hope that through this dialogue the governor would come to understand her obligation: 1) to take the difficult political step, but necessary moral step, of repudiating her past actions in support of legalized abortion; and 2) in the future would use her exceptional leadership abilities to develop public policies extending the maximum legal protection possible to the unborn children of Kansas.”

He said he wrote the governor last August requesting that she refrain from receiving Communion until she “acknowledges the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion.” He said he wrote again recently because he heard that she received Communion “at one of our parishes.”