San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone decided that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would not receive Holy Communion at Mass because she supports abortion.
“A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is the cause of most serious scandal,” he wrote. “Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ‘are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.'”
You should not present yourself for Holy Communion if you are not in Communion with the Catholic Church.
You are not in Communion with the Catholic Church if you support abortion.
The Catholic Church bans people from receiving Holy Communion as a last resort. It’s a serious move the Church does not take lightly.
At the same time, the Catholic Church has been against abortion since the 1st century:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (No. 2271).
Every Catholic knows this, whether you’re a Cradle Catholic or a convert (like me).
Cordileone noted that in 2004, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told the U.S. bishops how to approach Catholic legislators who advocate abortion:
… when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist. When ‘these precautionary measures have not had their effect …,’ and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, ‘the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it.’
In my opinion, Cordileone has been way too patient with Pelosi. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote after Biden’s 2020 win (emphasis mine):
The Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic life. Therefore, like every Catholic generation before us, we must be guided by the words of St. Paul, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). This means that all must examine their consciences as to their worthiness to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord. This examination includes fidelity to the moral teaching of the Church in personal and public life.
Pro-choice vs. pro-abortion: are you fighting laws that would stop “choice”? Or are you creating laws that make it easier to procure an abortion?
Therefore, Cordileone had to take the next step, especially since has not responded to his last communication request:
In striving to follow this direction, I am grateful to you for the time you have given me in the past to speak about these matters. Unfortunately, I have not received such an accommodation to my many requests to speak with you again since you vowed to codify the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in federal law following upon passage of Texas Senate Bill 8 last September. That is why I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publically repudiate your advocacy for abortion “rights” or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.
Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law states: “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
Cordileone criticized Pelosi for presenting herself for Communion but also using her faith to justify supporting abortion (emphasis his):
As you have not publically repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come. Therefore, in light of my responsibility as the Archbishop of San Francisco to be “concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care” (Code of Canon Law, can. 383, §1), 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.
I mean, not only does Pelosi support infanticide while claiming to be a devout Catholic, but she also lies about the Church and its standing on life:
In a 2008 interview, Pelosi claimed that “as a devout, practicing Catholic,” the Church has “not been able to make that definition” of when life begins — a remark that brought a slew of criticism from a number of top U.S. bishops – and then said that “the point is, it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.” In that interview she also said she wanted abortion to be “rare.”But in the wake of the leaked opinion this month suggesting that the Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v Wade, Pelosi has not talked about reducing abortion, but she has continued to claim that her pro-choice stance is in line with Catholic teaching.”This [topic] really gets me burned up in case you didn’t notice, because again I’m very Catholic, devout, practicing, all of that. They would like to throw me out. But I’m not going because I don’t want to make their day,” she said this month.
I’ll repeat myself: Pro-choice vs. pro-abortion: are you fighting laws that would stop “choice”? Or are you creating laws that make it easier to procure an abortion?
Pelosi thinks way too highly of herself. She doesn’t want to make their day because she won’t follow Catholic teachings? She’s so full of herself, acting like she’s better than the Church’s teachings that have been established since the first freaking century.
Good for you, Archbishop Cordileone. I know this was not an easy decision for him, but it had to be done.
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