Vatican Adviser Blasts Cuomo

Vatican canon law adviser Edward Peters said Tuesday that New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who supports marriage equality, committed an "objectively sacrilegious" act by receiving Communion while living with his girlfriend, celebrity chef Sandra Lee.

According to the New York Daily News, Peters told the conservative CNSNews that Cuomo should be denied Communion as long as he lives with Lee, a Food Network host, while unmarried.

"Peters zeroed in on the Mass, at Albany's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, that Cuomo attended a day after his Jan. 1 inauguration," reports the Daily News. "He received Communion from Bishop Howard Hubbard at the Mass."

Cuomo attended the Mass with Lee and his three daughters from his ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy. Bishop Hubbard praised the governor on that day, but Peters, who advises the Vatican's highest court, said the remarks amounted to "a failure in pastoral care."

Gov. Cuomo has vowed to push for another vote on the marriage equality bill before the end of the legislative session in June. The Roman Catholic Church lobbied successfully for the defeat of the bill in the state senate in 2009.