As we previously reported, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone banned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from receiving Communion because of her continued extreme advocacy of abortion. Cordileone tried to talk to her. She not only blew him off but she acted as though she was in the right in so doing. It’s always been a tenet of the Church not to promote abortion and it is considered a grave sin to facilitate it as Pelosi is doing. You’re not supposed to receive Communion when your soul is in a state of grave sin which is why Cordileone is denying her until she straightens herself out.
The reaction of the left was something else. Some claimed that it was the Archbishop who was politicizing things. CNN’s Jim Sciutto even claimed that he’d never heard of anyone being banned. Indeed, the St. Louis Archbishop said he would deny climate czar John Kerry while he was campaigning in 2004 and Rudy Giuliani was told he should not be receiving Communion while he was pro-choice. Guiliani accepted that decision and their right to deny him. Sciutto is a lousy journalist so he didn’t pick up on those high-profile instances. We saw The View’s Whoopi Goldberg claim that it wasn’t the Archbishop’s “job” to deny Pelosi when, indeed, it’s exactly his job as a pastor and a spiritual leader to do what he thinks is best for Pelosi’s soul and not have her continue to compound on sin.
But Pelosi, who thinks she’s right, is now thumbing her nose at Cordileone’s principled stand.
The California Democrat attended mass on Sunday at Holy Trinity in Georgetown where she received Holy Communion, Politico Playbook reported. Pool reports show that President Joe Biden often attends evening masses at the parish as well.
It is not immediately clear which priest at Holy Trinity gave Pelosi communion.
None of the Jesuit priests on staff at Holy Trinity, described as “a parish of the powerful,” responded to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.
The parish website advertises a June 15 “Pride Mass,” and highlights a video of a gay man, who says he is married to a man, though the Catholic Church teaches that marriage should only be between a man and a woman and that “under no circumstances” will the church approve homosexual acts.
The Church’s pastor, Rev. Kevin Gillespie, S.J., has previously said he wouldn’t deny Joe Biden Communion, as has the Washington Archbishop, Wilton Gregory. The parish failed to respond to requests for comment from the Daily Wire and it sounds like the Washington, D.C. Archdiocese is trying to duck the questions as to what is going on here.
WOW. Washington Archdiocese accidentally sent this email to @dcexaminer admitting that it is ignoring press inquiries about whether @WashArchbishop will "bring down the hammer on Pelosi." pic.twitter.com/KPtY6gpZzu
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) May 23, 2022
Unfortunately, the battle we see in the wider community is also being fought in the Church, where you see people who care more about the teachings of the Church, and those who seem to care more about progressive politics. Some on the left have suggested that Pope Francis would be against this banning, but it’s up to the bishops to decide, as Cordileone did.
The Archbishop said he was just following the letter of Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict) when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“He gave us advice on how to approach this, specifically with politicians, Catholic politicians, and specifically on the two issues of abortion and euthanasia,” Cordileone said. “He said we need to meet, to dialogue, to try to move them down the path of conversion. And if after several attempts it comes to the point where it’s clear [that] this is not going to happen, then the bishop or the pastor, [Ratzinger] says, is to declare that the person is not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
The archbishop defended his decision to make the decision public, saying, “If she’s not to be admitted to Holy Communion, our priests and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, all those who are Communion ministers need to know that.”
He also described Pelosi’s outspoken support for abortion as a “scandal.”
“Scandal is an action that would lead others into error or into sin,” Cordileone said. “So the scandal here is that someone who is strongly advocating for something as evil as abortion and taking Communion creates confusion among people. And they can begin to think that it is acceptable for a Catholic to believe this.”
The archbishop said he cannot judge Pelosi’s conscience.
“I think her faith really is important to her. It really is important to her to be Catholic, and she feels devotion in her heart,” he admitted. “Which makes me perplexed at why she would be so forceful on this issue as a politician.”
“It’s very tricky as a politician; there are so many issues to balance out and trying to come to some kind of consensus and compromise and all that,” Cordileone noted. “But to be so aggressively promoting it—that’s not what a devout Catholic does.”
While Pope Francis didn’t comment specifically on Pelosi, he did make the following comment, condemning calling abortion a “choice,” and saying abortion is taking a life.
Pope Francis today: "Sadly, there has been a change in the common mentality, and we are more led to think that life is a good at our complete disposal, that we can choose to give birth or to take a life as we please, as if it were the exclusive consequence of individual choice" pic.twitter.com/zxUUJOmdcw
— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) May 22, 2022
So it looks like Pelosi is “church shopping” — to be able to find progressives who are willing to go around Cordileone. I’m not sure how this ends because it seems like if you’re trying to protect the principles of the Church, you would want to stop that. But we’ll have to see if Pope Francis goes any further than that sort of couched response.
Story cited here.
