US:The Catholic Archbishop of St Louis has said he would refuse to give Communion to Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani because of the former New York mayor's support for abortion rights.
Archbishop Raymond Burke, who issued the same warning to another Catholic presidential candidate, Democrat John Kerry, in 2004, said he was morally obliged to refuse the sacrament to a politician who defied church teaching on abortion.
"If any politician approached me and he'd been admonished not to present himself, I'd not give it [ Communion]. To me, you have to be certain a person realises he is persisting in a serious public sin," he said.
The archbishop is just the latest in a succession of Christian leaders who have warned that they could not support Mr Giuliani, who once wanted to become a priest but has been married three times, if he becomes the Republican nominee. Some of the US's leading conservative evangelicals agreed last weekend to back a third party candidate if the nominees from both main parties backed abortion rights.
Campaigning in New Jersey this week, however, Mr Giuliani brushed aside such threats, suggesting that conservatives would ultimately back him as the Republican most likely to win. "Every poll shows that I would be by far the strongest candidate against Hillary Clinton. There hasn't been one taken in the last six or seven months that shows anything other than I'm the Republican who has the best chance to beat her," he said as he left a diner in Seaville.
With its high proportion of retirees and second-home owners, the Jersey shore is fertile ground for Republicans, and customers at Dino's Diner were thrilled to see Mr Giuliani.
"He's tough on crime and tough on terrorism," enthused retired architect Lance Balderson as he studied the menu. "If Hillary Clinton wins, we're all moving to Ireland."
Dressed in a conservative pinstripe suit, Mr Giuliani moved through the restaurant, greeting diners, posing for photographs and signing stickers and baseball caps. He made little small talk, however, beyond the odd remark about a big win the night before for the local baseball team, the Philadelphia Phillies.
Mr Balderson felt let down. "I said, 'I hope you beat Hillary', and he said, 'we will'. But he didn't even look at me. There was no warmth. I wasn't as impressed as I thought I'd be."
An hour later, Mr Giuliani was addressing "A Tribute to Heroes" outside the Congress Hall, an imposing Victorian hotel facing the Atlantic at Cape May. The audience of a few hundred people was overwhelmingly elderly and it was hard to spot anyone under 70.
Mr Giuliani started as he meant to go on, by bashing Ms Clinton over everything from her proposal to give a $5,000 (€3,500) bond to every newborn baby in the US to her inadequate knowledge of baseball trivia.
When he wasn't denouncing the Democratic frontrunner (and promising to defeat her), Mr Giuliani was promising a robust response to what he calls "Islamic terrorism" and to the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
"You either protect America or you don't," he said.
Mr Giuliani is running ahead of rivals Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mitt Romney in national polls, but he trails Mr Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the first nominating contests will be held in January.
Mr Giuliani hopes to sweep the field on February 5th, when a number of big states, including New York and California, hold primaries, but his support remains tepid among Christian "values voters".
After a lifetime of support for abortion rights and gay rights and with two high-profile divorces behind him, the former mayor cannot reinvent himself as a social conservative. Instead, he hopes to appeal to conservatives by being tough on terrorism, illegal immigration and government spending. "I believe we're reaching out very, very well to Republicans of all different kinds. I think the emphasis on fiscal conservatism is one that brings a lot of Republicans together," he said.
From Cape May, Mr Giuliani went to Philadelphia, where he visited Geno's Steaks, a restaurant that sparked a national controversy last year when owner Joey Vento posted a sign in the window declaring: "This is America. When ordering, please speak English".
The crowd that greeted Mr Giuliani here was younger than in New Jersey and much more hostile, carrying banners that read "Philly Loves Immigrants" and "We are not terrorists. We are workers".