Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissed reports that he pocketed a communion wafer as "ridiculous" and "terrible" and said he would never do such a thing.

Earlier this week, controversy broke out after a video clip emerged that appeared to show Harper accepting a communion wafer at the funeral for former governor general Romeo Leblanc, but not consuming it.

Allegations emerged that Harper had slipped the wafer into his jacket pocket.

He strenuously denied those reports on Friday while speaking to reporters at G8 meetings in L'Aquila, Italy,

"First of all as a Christian I've never refused communion when offered to me, that is actually pretty important to me," Harper said.

He went on to suggest that even reporting the story, is irresponsible on the part of the media.

"I think somebody running a story -- and I don't know where the responsibility lies -- somebody running an unsubstantiated story that I would stick communion bread in my pocket is really absurd, and I think it's a real, frankly, a low point, a low moment in journalism whoever is responsible for this," Harper said.

"It's a terrible story and a ridiculous story and not based on anything as near as I can tell."

After the video clip was released, a spokesperson for the PMO said Harper was offered the wafer by a Catholic priest at the funeral, that he accepted it and then consumed it.

The Catholic church considers the communion host to be sacred, and pocketing the wafer would have been considered offensive.