Archbishop Ends Pelosi's Masquerading as a Catholic

For years, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has masqueraded as a Catholic theologian on the subject of abortion.

For example, on Aug. 24, 2008, the speaker made this remark on NBC’s "Meet the Press": " . . . as an ardent, practicing Catholic, [abortion] is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make the definition [of when life begins]. St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know.

"The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose."

After hearing that comment, New York’s archbishop, Edward Cardinal Egan, said, "What the speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed, it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age."

"Crystal clear photographs and films of babies in their mothers' wombs make it impossible," Egan explained, that any person with "the slightest measure of integrity or honor" could fail to concede what these "marvelous beings manifestly, clearly and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb.

"In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right the speaker is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons.

"They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith."

Then on May 4, 2022, Pelosi pushed the envelope over the edge during an interview when she reacted to the leaked draft ruling on abortion authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

"The very idea," she said, "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."

By publicly justifying her support for the radical abortion agenda based on being a "devout Catholic," Pelosi’s shepherd, the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone, had no choice but to publicly criticize her position as a public scandal and to issue a decree informing her not to be admitted to Holy Communion.

However, prior to the public notification, Cordileone consulted the "General Principles on Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion," laid down in 2004 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI.

That document states "The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin."

It also points out that while "there may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia."

As for a Catholic politician, who has been "consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws," the document states "his pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him 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."

If the "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."

The memorandum concludes that the decision to deny Holy Communion "is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy Communion passing judgment on the person’s subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin."

Archbishop Cordileone faithfully followed the Vatican directive and carried out his pastoral duty when on May 20, 2022, he notified the Speaker that she is "not to be admitted to Holy Communion at Mass."

In a letter to his clergy, the archbishop made it clear that on numerous occasions, he reached out to Pelosi "ever since she announced that she intends to codify the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision into the law of the United States."

His calls were not returned, and his letter to Pelosi "detailing the extreme position to which she has moved on the abortion question explaining the scandal that it is causing and her danger to her own soul," and warning that if she did not "repudiate her position" or "refrain from referring to her Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion," received no response.

For years, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has attempted to be Margaret Sanger and St. Thomas Aquinas at one and the same time.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone should be commended for dispelling that notion, citing the Church’s teachings on the evil of abortion and judiciously exercising his authority.

The question now is, will Cordileone’s brother bishops throughout the U.S. have the mettle to publicly support his decision?

George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of "The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact," and "Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy." Read George J. Marlin's Reports — More Here.