Pelosi barred from communion by San Francisco archbishop over support of abortion rights
Thank you sir, you are a true Christian and a true Representative of the R.C.. Your fellowship should be proud to have you among their leadership. You have done the right thing .. This woman should not be allowed into Holy Communion or fellowship with Christians until she has a LONG, LONG talk with God about the evil of her ways.. Again thank you for standing up, you have restored my faith in humanity.
Pelosi barred from communion by San Francisco archbishop over support of abortion rights
An archbishop has barred Pelosi from receiving communion in the San Francisco archdiocese due to her stance on abortion.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote that Pelosi needed to "publicly repudiate" her support for the procedure.
The Catholic Church has been unwavering in its opposition to abortion, which it deems a "grave sin."
A conservative archbishop in San Francisco told priests in the archdiocese to bar House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving communion due to her support for abortion rights.
In a letter disclosed on Friday, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote that until California Democrat seeks to "publicly repudiate" her stance regarding the "legitimacy of abortion," she will be blocked from the sacrament of Holy Communion, a core rite of Catholic worship.
" ... By means of this communication I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publically repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance," the letter states.
Cordileone on Friday also tweeted that Pelosi is "risking" a "danger to her own soul" by supporting abortion.
[color=red]"After numerous attempts to speak with Speaker Pelosi to help her understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing ... [and] the danger to her own soul she is risking, I have determined that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion," he said.[/color]
The action comes as the nation grapples with the fallout of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, which suggested that the nearly 50-year-old ruling legalizing abortion rights would soon be overturned. Fury over the issue has animated Democratic congressional leaders and left-leaning organizations who want to codify Roe into law, along with GOP politicians and grassroots activists who have fought to eliminate the procedure for years.
Pelosi — a lifelong Catholic who has spoken openly about how her faith has shaped her worldview — said in a 2008 interview on C-SPAN that being denied communion would be a difficult proposition for her.
"Fortunately ... it has not been withheld and I'm a regular communicant so that would be a severe blow to me if that were the case," she said at the time.
Pelosi's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request to comment.
The Catholic Church has been unwavering in its opposition to abortion, which it deems a "grave sin."
Cordileone has spoken out against Pelosi in the past, criticizing her last July over the Democratic Party's then-push to eliminate the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for most abortions.
During the debate over the issue, Pelosi described herself as "a devout Catholic" while stressing that abortion rights were "an issue of health of many women in America" and adding that "it's not up to me to dictate that that's what other people should do."
In a statement, Cordileone expressed frustration with her comments and issued a retort to the speaker.
"No one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it," he said in a statement at the time. "Let me repeat: no one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it."
The Vatican has not been warm to the idea of church leaders denying communion to politicians over their stance regarding abortion rights.
Pope Francis said last June that communion "is not the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners."
However, many conservative bishops have pressed forward, while also amplifying their frustration with President Joe Biden — the nation's second Catholic president — over his stance on abortion rights.
Biden at one time supported the Hyde Amendment, but reversed course during the 2020 presidential campaign.
