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WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Dominican priest is taking on presumptive Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine and his claims of being a faithful Catholic.

In a tweet addressed to Sen. Kaine of Virginia published Sunday, Fr. Thomas Petri, OP, wrote: "Do us both a favor. Don't show up in my communion line. I take Canon 915 seriously. It'd be embarrassing for you & for me."

The tweet in question was preceded by two others , both addressed to Sen. Kaine, in which Fr. Petri declared, "Self-identified Catholics are not a 'thing' in the Catholism [sic]. If you don't believe our central tenets, you're not Catholic." Father Petri also maintained the senator is either "poorly catechized or a dissenter."

Canon 915 decrees that those who are "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin," among other things, "are not to be admitted to holy communion." The canon, according to canon lawyer Ed Peters, "does not demand verification that would-be recipients are subjectively guilty for sinful behavior before withholding Holy Communion."

This canon has frequently been the subject of controversy, with notable prelates, in particular Cdl. Donald Wuerl of Washington, refusing to apply the canon in cases of pro-abortion politicians seeking to receive Holy Communion. The debate first made headlines in 2004 following Sen. John Kerry, a self-described Catholic and proponent of abortion, announcing his bid for presidency; similar controversy flared up with the selection of Sen. Joe Biden, also a Catholic and proponent of abortion and LGBT "rights," as vice president on the ticket of then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Despite his outspoken support for policies starkly conflicting with Church teaching, Biden is generally permitted to receive the Eucharist while attending Mass in Washington, D.C., and has been spotted receiving Communion at various parishes across the country.

The controversy over Catholic politicians receiving the Eucharist despite their public support of abortion and LGBT "rights," among other things, again resurfaced last week with an announcement from the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign that Sen. Tim Kaine had been selected as the presumptive vice presidential nominee. The move was met with backlash from Catholics across the country, as the self-described Catholic "strongly support[s] the right of women to make their own health and reproductive decisions and, for that reason, will oppose efforts to weaken or subvert the basic holding of Roe v. Wade." Kaine has a 100 percent rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League, as well as from the pro-gay Human Rights Campaign.

In a Facebook post Saturday, Bp. Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, declared that, on account of Kaine's public support for "'freedom of choice' for abortion, same-sex marriage, gay adoptions and the ordination of women as priests," the senator's faith "isn't central to his public, political life."

For his tweet, Fr. Petri, who serves as the vice president and academic dean for the Dominican House of Studies, received backlash from various Twitter users, many who accused the priest of acting as "a magisterium" unto himself and labeled him as an "inhospitable rightwinger." Others expressed support for Fr. Petri, thanking him for standing up for the Church and noting that "all priests should take Canon 915 seriously."

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