United States of America House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reportedly took communion at a Catholic church in Washington, D.C., Sunday and spoke out Tuesday after Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco barred her from receiving communion in the California city.
Two days after receiving communion at a Catholic church in Washington, D.C., Pelosi appeared as a guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to question Cordileone barring her from receiving communion over her stance on abortion.
She wondered why the archbishop hadn’t taken similar stances on other issues that violate church teachings, like banning politicians who support the death penalty from receiving communion.
“I wonder about the death penalty, which I am opposed to,” Pelosi, 82, said. “So is the church, but they take no action against people who may not share their view.”
Pelosi’s continued endorsement of policies advancing abortion access conflicts with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The church has “affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion” since the first century.
In a Friday letter, Archbishop Cordileone warned Pelosi to “repudiate” her “advocacy for abortion ‘rights'” or “refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion.”
The archbishop quoted the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law, stating, “those obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
According to Politico’s Playbook, Pelosi attended mass on Sunday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, a Jesuit congregation, and took communion there.
Holy Trinity did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
As Cordileone oversees the Archdiocese of San Francisco, his orders don’t apply to other Catholic dioceses, such as the Archdiocese of Washington.
“What is so sad about it … I think back on other discussions I’ve had with members of Congress over time, what is important for women to know and families to know is that this is not just about terminating a pregnancy,” Pelosi said. “Some of 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.”
She referenced the Gospel of Matthew, calling it the “agenda of the Church” that is “rejected by many who side with them on terminating a pregnancy.”
“We just have to be prayerful and we have to be respectful. I come from a largely pro-life Italian-American Catholic family. So I respect people’s views about that. But I don’t respect us foisting it onto others,” she added.
“The archbishop has been vehemently against LGBTQ rights. In fact, he led the way with an initiative on the ballot in California. 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.”