Pelosi Receives Communion At The Vatican Despite Her Pro-Abortion Stance

Pelosi sat in the VIP section of the church and received communion

Nancy Pelosi attacks Catholic bishop who barred her from receiving communion: 'They try to undo so much'



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked on Tuesday the Catholic archbishop who banned her from receiving Holy Communion in her home area.

What is the background?

Last Friday, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone announced that he had barred Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco because of her increasingly "extreme" position on abortion.

The Catholic Church is staunchly pro-life, thus supporting abortion violates church teaching. The Catholic Church also holds that Holy Communion, one of the church's most important sacraments, is reserved for baptized members. Members guilty of committing a "grave sin" (which includes abortion) are instructed to abstain from participating in communion until they undergo the sacrament of reconciliation.

What did Pelosi say?

During an interview on MSNBC, Pelosi parroted pro-abortion (and political, not theological) talking points, suggesting that Cordileone is yet another person who wants to clamp down on women's rights.

"This is not just about terminating a pregnancy. So these same people are against contraception, family planning, in vitro fertilization — it's a blanket thing, and they use abortion as the frontman for it while they try to undo so much," Pelosi claimed.

The California Democrat then tried to pin the archbishop in hypocrisy over the death penalty.

"I wonder about the death penalty, which I'm opposed to. So is the church, but they take no actions against people who may not share their view," she said.

Finally, she knocked Cordileone for opposing "LGBTQ rights." The Catholic Church, of course, opposes gay marriage.

"Our archbishop has been vehemently against LGBTQ rights, too. In fact, he led the way in some of the initiatives— an initiative on the ballot in California," she said. "So, this decision taking us to privacy and precedent is very dangerous in the lives of so many of the American people and not consistent with the Gospel of Matthew."

Pelosi: Far Right Uses Abortion As A Cover For Other Things They Want To Accomplish www.youtube.com

What has Pope Francis said?

Pope Francis explained last September that participation in Holy Communion is reserved for Catholics "in the community," but politicians who support abortion are "outside of the community."

The View's Whoopi Goldberg blasts San Francisco bishop for denying communion to Pelosi: 'This is not your job, dude!'



Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of "The View," lectured the Catholic archbishop of San Francisco on Monday about what is and is not his job after he announced that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is to be denied Holy Communion in his archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights.

“The abortion rights battle is starting to blur the lines between church and state. The archbishop of San Francisco is calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to be denied receiving communion because of her pro-choice stance. He’s one of the priests who also called president Biden to be denied sacrament," Goldberg said at the beginning of the segment.

"This is not your job, dude!" she furiously exclaimed. "That is not, you can't, that is not up to you to make that decision."

"How dare you," she said to Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who on Friday announced that he informed Pelosi she would not be admitted to Holy Communion after she resisted pastoral counsel on her support for abortion rights "for too long."

Watch:

In a letter to the priests of his archdiocese, Cordileone explained that he had attempted to meet and speak with Pelosi several times in the months leading up to his decision. He wrote that according to canon law, Pelosi is "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin" and that it is his responsibility as archbishop — literally his job — to enforce church discipline against her.

The co-hosts of "The View," several of whom were either raised as or are practicing Catholics, accused the Catholic Church of "hypocrisy" for neglecting to condemn politicians like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who support the death penalty in contradiction to Catholic social teaching.

“The Catholic Church has lost 20% in attendance since the year 2000,” said Ana Navarro, who went on to argue that church doctrine on controversial social issues is responsible for declining believers.

“Why? Because they’re against artificial birth control. They are against in vitro fertilization. They won’t give you communion if you are divorced or if you are a gay couple, and because of things like this, and in the meantime, if they really want to protect children, they have tallied 17,000 at least complaints of molestations by priests since the year 1980,” Navarro continued.

“So if you want to protect children, archbishop, instead of sheltering pedophilia, you know, pedophile priests, instead of moving them to other churches without telling the community, instead of protecting them, you should be protecting the children who go get Catholic education in your churches,” she said.

Joy Behar interjected to say that only 4% of priests are "bad priests," defending the majority as not being child abusers.

Sunny Hostin then gave her take that Catholics should not "politicize" their religion.

"While I believe that abortion is wrong, and I believe that the catechism of the Catholic Church that pro-life extends from conception through natural death. If you are a practicing Catholic as Bill Barr is, as Greg Abbott is — then you should be pro-life from conception through natural death,” she said, referring to former Attorney General Bill Barr.

“And, the issue that I have with these politicians politicizing their religion is the hypocrisy, because when you look at the Catholic church, and these bishops, the death penalty, you know, so this includes the death penalty, right?” Hostin continued.

“When Bill Barr was the AG, he was honored for his service by the Church at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, and that included an address from the twice-divorced president at the time,” she said, adding that the Church was hypocritical for being friendly toward former President Donald Trump too (Trump is not a practicing Catholic).

“And Greg Abbott is another Catholic who is a proponent of the death penalty. There’s also the Second Amendment. If you are truly a pro-life Catholic, then you have to support gun reform. So you have to be consistent, and the church is just not consistent.,” Hostin asserted.

“Greg Abbott has overseen 55 executions,” Behar noted.

“Yes, and Bill Barr actually, under his watch, the federal government execute prisoners for the first time since 2003,” Hostin said. "Why are they weaponizing the sacrament against Nancy Pelosi, but not Bill Barr and other people the same way?”

But the archbishop spoke to her point in his letter.

"There are those who speak of such actions as I am taking as 'weaponizing' the Eucharist," Cordileone wrote. "However, this is simply application of Church teaching. One would have to demonstrate that a person’s actions in following Church teaching is explicitly for a political purpose in order to justify the accusation of 'weaponizing' the Eucharist. I have been very clear all along, in both my words and my actions, that my motive is pastoral, not political."

"I also hasten to point out that one can also violate Church teaching and take Holy Communion for a political purpose as well, thus 'weaponizing' the Eucharist for one’s own ulterior motives," he added.

As for Abbott and Barr, they are not under the San Francisco archbishop's authority, but Pelosi is.

(h/t: Mediaite)

CNN anchor rushes to defend Nancy Pelosi after she is denied Holy Communion. But Pope Francis says not so fast.



CNN anchor Jim Sciutto rushed to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday after San Fransisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone barred her from receiving Holy Communion.

Even worse, Sciutto claimed Pope Francis does not support banning pro-abortion politicians from receiving the sacrament — which is not true.

What is the background?

Cordileone announced on Friday that Pelosi has been barred from receiving Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Cordileone cited Pelosi's increasingly "extreme" position on abortion.

"Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months," Cordileone explained in a "letter to the faithful."

"Just earlier this month she once again, as she has many times before, explicitly cited her Catholic faith while justifying abortion as a 'choice,' this time setting herself in direct opposition to Pope Francis," he added.

What did Sciutto say?

Scuitto claimed Cordileone's decision is evidence of a "deep fissure" in the Catholic Church, adding that Pope Francis does not support barring pro-abortion politicians from participating in Holy Communion.

"12 years of Catholic school, altar boy, family deeply involved in our church, and never saw anyone banned from receiving communion," Scuitto said. "This is a deep fissure in the church — and a position Pope Francis himself doesn’t support."

12 years of Catholic school, altar boy, family deeply involved in our church, and never saw anyone banned from receiving communion. This is a deep fissure in the church - and a position Pope Francis himself doesn\u2019t support.https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1527733939275702274\u00a0\u2026
— Jim Sciutto (@Jim Sciutto) 1653080774

But what has Francis said?

Pope Francis directly addressed this issue last September, definitively saying that participation in Holy Communion is reserved for church members "in the community." But politicians who support abortion, he said, are "outside of the community."

Francis described communion as "not a prize for the perfect," but he called it a "gift, the presence of Jesus in his Church, and in the community."

"This is the theology," Francis said. "Then, those who are not in the community, cannot receive communion. ... Out of the community: Excommunicated, it’s a harsh word, but they don’t belong in the community, because they were not baptized, or because they are estranged from it."

"Those people who are not in the community cannot take communion, because they are out of the community," he explained. "It is not a punishment: Communion is linked to the community."

Francis also addressed abortion in the same interview — and he did not mince words.

Francis called abortion "more than a problem: It’s a homicide. No middle terms. Whomever does an abortion, kills," adding that an unborn child is a "human life" and a "person" who must be "respected."

BREAKING: San Francisco archbishop bars Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Holy Communion



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been barred from receiving Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco because of her increasingly "extreme" position on abortion, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone announced Friday.

In a "letter to the faithful," the archbishop wrote that after repeated attempts to speak with Pelosi and persuade her to adhere to the Catholic Church's teaching that life begins at conception and abortion is a sin, he has determined to place her under public church discipline.

"Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months," Cordileone wrote. "Just earlier this month she once again, as she has many times before, explicitly cited her Catholic faith while justifying abortion as a 'choice,' this time setting herself in direct opposition to Pope Francis."

He quoted a statement Pelosi made to the Seattle Times earlier this month in which she fumed over the leaked draft Supreme Court majority opinion that would uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban and overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

“The very idea that they would be telling women the size, timing or whatever of their family, the personal nature of this is so appalling, and I say that as a devout Catholic,” Pelosi said. “They say to me, ‘Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the Pope.’ Yes I do. Are you stupid?”

"After numerous attempts to speak with her 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 the point has come in which I must make a public declaration that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion 'rights' and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance," the archbishop announced.

"Please know that I find no pleasure whatsoever in fulfilling my pastoral duty here. Speaker Pelosi remains our sister in Christ. Her advocacy for the care of the poor and vulnerable elicits my admiration. I assure you that my action here is purely pastoral, not political," he said, asking faithful Christians to continue to pray for her.

The announcement that Pelosi would be denied communion is the culmination of a years-long conflict between the speaker, a self-described devout Catholic, and her archbishop on the abortion issue.

Last year, Cordileone issued a missive condemning "the evil of abortion" and suggesting that an "erring Catholic" who continues to support abortion rights after being confronted by their pastor must be temporarily excluded from communion.

Pelosi has said that overturning Roe would be an "abomination" and that should the Supreme Court do so, it would be "one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history." She and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have led Democrats in support of a radical abortion bill that would wipe out state pro-life laws and dramatically expand abortion access by codifying Roe into federal law.

Faithful Catholics Must Fight For Holy Communion So They Don’t Lose Again

To win the Eucharist battle, faithful Catholics must treat the threshold for receiving the Body and Blood of Christ much higher than not promoting abortion.

Poll: Majority Of Church-Going Catholics Believe Biden Should Not Receive Communion

A recent poll shows that 74 percent of mass-going Catholics believe that officials who oppose church teaching should be denied Communion.

Should Priests Deny Biden Communion? Theologians Weigh in

'Sometimes a Catholic is just a Catholic'

Former Philly archbishop says Joe Biden should be denied Holy Communion



The archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia proclaimed that Joe Biden should be denied the sacrament of Holy Communion. The former archbishop maintains that his opinion is not "political," but rather a "pastoral concern."

Charles Chaput said that despite Biden being Catholic, the former vice president should not receive Holy Communion. Chaput asserts that Biden's support for the "grave moral evil" of abortion should disqualify him from Holy Communion.

Chaput voiced his viewpoint in First Things, a religious journal aimed at "advancing a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society."

"Public figures who identify as 'Catholic' give scandal to the faithful when receiving Communion by creating the impression that the moral laws of the Church are optional," Chaput wrote. "And bishops give similar scandal by not speaking up publicly about the issue and danger of sacrilege."

"Those bishops who publicly indicate in advance that they will undertake their own dialogue with President-elect Joseph Biden and allow him Communion effectively undermine the work of the task force established at the November bishops' conference meeting to deal precisely with this and related issues," Chaput explained. "This gives scandal to their brother bishops and priests, and to the many Catholics who struggle to stay faithful to Church teaching. It does damage to the bishops' conference, to the meaning of collegiality, and to the fruitfulness of the conference's advocacy work with the incoming administration."

"This is not a 'political' matter, and those who would describe it as such are either ignorant or willfully confusing the issue," he continued. "This is a matter of bishops' unique responsibility before the Lord for the integrity of the sacraments. Moreover, there is also the pressing matter of pastoral concern for a man's salvation."

"At minimum, every bishop has the duty of privately discussing these vital moral issues and the destructive effect of receiving Communion unworthily with public figures who act contrary to Church teaching," he concluded. "Reception of Communion is not a right but a gift and privilege; and on the subject of 'rights,' the believing community has a priority right to the integrity of its belief and practice."

The debate is ignited because Washington, D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory proclaimed that he would administer Holy Communion to Biden.

Cardinal-designate Gregory told the Catholic News Service, "I'm not going to veer from that," in regards to Biden receiving Holy Communion.

He said there is a need for dialogue within the church among people who think differently.

"Conflict within the church is not a new reality; it goes back to apostolic times," Gregory said. "What seems to be new is the capacity for people to broadcast the conflicts and to allow social communications to intensify the conflict."