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San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced on Friday that the Catholic Church has banned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Communion because of her pro-abortion stance.
In a letter addressed to Pelosi, Cordileone informs her that she should not present herself for Holy Communion when she attends Mass and that, even if she did, the priests are instructed not to give her the sacrament.
“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.” Cordileone tweeted Friday, announcing the move.
“A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ‘are not to be admitted to Holy Communion,” he says in the letter.
Holy Communion does not admit “abominable crimes”
In his letter, Archbishop Cordileone claims to have previously written to Pelosi warning her that if she did not “publicly repudiate” her advocacy of abortion and “refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public,” then he would have “no choice” but to ban her from receiving communion.
“Therefore, in light of my responsibility as the Archbishop of San Francisco to be ‘concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care’, 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 publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance,” Cordileone continued.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to procured abortion as an immoral practice that represents an “abominable crime.”
“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”; “Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.”
Recently, Nancy Pelosi declared herself a “devout Catholic” who grew up in a “pro-life family,” but defended a woman’s “fundamental right” to abortion and criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
