CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER - COMMUNION CONTROVERSY

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a private audience and exchanged gifts with Pope Benedict XVI July 11, 2009 at the Vatican.

JULY 15, 2009

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has blamed the controversy of his recent reception of Holy Communion on “people who want to cause embarrassment in religion and drive a wedge between Protestants and Catholics.”

“While I’m not theologically a Catholic, in my judgment, the Catholic Church is a critical bulwark of worldwide Christianity,” Harper added. “The Pope is an important moral and spiritual leader generally and for Christians generally, even though I’m not a Catholic.”

Source: Catholic Culture

It was reported earlier that the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper accepted and ate a communion wafer at a Catholic mass and didn't pocket it as critics have alleged, according to his spokesman.

Harper, a devout Protestant, attended last week's state funeral for Canada's former governor general, Romeo LeBlanc, during which a Catholic priest offered him a communion host. READ HERE