Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi summoned priests, The New York Times reported, to rid her San Francisco abode of evil spirits after a hammer-wielding man attacked her husband.
"I think that weighed really heavy on her soul. I think she felt really guilty. I think that really broke her," Pelosi's daughter, Alexandra, told The Times. "Over Thanksgiving, she had priests coming, trying to have an exorcism of the house and having prayer services."
But "as far as I know," Father Arturo Albano, the pastor at Pelosi's local parish, told the New York Post, "no exorcism or priest services were performed at her home."
Despite Albano's dismissal, reports suggest Pelosi may have sought help outside of her local church.
In May of last year, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone barred the Democrat from receiving Holy Communion "until such time as [she] publically repudiate[s] [her] advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion."
Pelosi has long held a pro-abortion stance, despite calling herself a devout Catholic.
Upon learning of the purification ceremony, critics all but climbed walls.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asked, "Will she also be coordinating one for the speaker's office?"
"[H]opefully Nancy doesn't vanish after the exorcism," Terry Mann tweeted.
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, urged the former House Speaker to seek "help" — from a psychiatrist.
"The woman is positively conflicted. She wears her Catholicism on her sleeve while basically sticking her middle finger up at the Catholic Church every opportunity she has," Donahue said. "If it's genuine, she needs psychiatric help. And if not, it's another example of Nancy Pelosi exploiting the Catholic Church for her own personal gain."
Still, according to Father Vincent Lampert, the exorcist for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, an exorcism could indeed play a role in combating "demonic infestation," and the presence of evil that may linger in a place such as Pelosi's home.
The exorcism, Lampert said, "would be the recitation of a particular prayer, inviting the presence of God back into the house, casting out any presence of evil that may be there. Then the house would be blessed with holy water, reminding us of our new life in Christ, and the fact that we need not fear any evil, because recognizing that Christ is dwelling with us."
"I would say I get thousands of those requests every year," he added.
On Oct. 29, David DePape, a hammer-wielding conspiracy theorist, allegedly barged his way into the Pelosi's residence, looking for the then-speaker. DePape, 42, bludgeoned Paul Pelosi, 82, with a hammer, injuring his right arm and fracturing his skull, authorities say.
DePape's alleged plan was to "hold Nancy hostage" and to "break her kneecaps" if she lied during his interrogation.
DePape is slated to appear in court on Feb. 23. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and elder abuse.
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