Non-catholic Corbyn seen taking Holy Communion in church

JEREMY CORBYN has risked accusations of disrespecting the Catholic faith after he took Holy Communion despite his apparent agnosticism.

The Labour leader, who has never practised Catholicism, took bread and wine during the funeral of Mary Turner, the former GMB Union president who died in July.

New Statesman, the Left-wing magazine, reported that Mr Corbyn queued for communion with Laura Alvarez, his Mexican wife, during the service at Sacred Heart Church in Kilburn, north London. He is not the only Labour leader to be criticised for taking communion: in 1996 the late Cardinal Basil Hume wrote to Tony Blair asking him to refrain from taking communion when attending Mass with his family. Mr Blair, a practising Anglican at the time, replied: “I wonder what Jesus would have made of it.”

Mr Corbyn’s office declined to comment on his taking communion, but a party source said the Labour leader had “paid his respects to Mary’s family and her memory”.

Clare Bowskill, of the Latin Mass Society, said: “Most Catholics would think that was disrespecting the faith quite considerably. Even Anglicans are normally told at Mass that they are welcome to come up for a blessing but they do not take communion.” Catholic Church guidelines says that non-christians cannot receive the Eucharist.

Sacred Heart is part of the Diocese of Westminster, which said in a statement: “To receive Holy Communion in a Catholic church, a person is expected to be in full communion with the Catholic Church. Normally, a priest would presume this is the case, unless he has clear knowledge or indication that this is not the case.”

Mr Corbyn has always refused to be drawn on whether he has any religious beliefs, though Labour confirmed yesterday that he is not a Catholic and did not convert to Catholicism to marry his Mexican wife.