Benedict XVI on Excommunication Pro-Abortion Politicians.: Excommunication is not something arbitrary but a measure prescribed by the Code [of Canon Law]. Thus, it simply states in Canon Law that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with going to Communion, where one receives the Body of Christ. Consequently, nothing new, surprising or arbitrary, has been invented. Only what is prescribed by Church Law has been recalled publically, a Law that is based on the doctrine and faith of the Church, on our appreciation of life and of the human individual from the very first instant.