The Christian sacrament of receiving Holy Communion has recently become a hot-button political issue in the United States—and it’s only getting hotter.
This time it is House Speaker and Democrat Nancy Pelosi whose religious practice is under scrutiny.
“SPOTTED: Speaker NANCY PELOSI at 9 a.m. Mass at Holy Trinity in Georgetown, where she received Communion,” Politico reported in his ‘Playbook’ column on Sunday.
If you’re wondering how a Catholic taking communion can be considered news even if they’re a famous politician, Pelosi was banned from receiving the sacrament by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone earlier this month.
“Unfortunately, President Pelosi’s stance on abortion has only become more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months,” Archbishop Cordileone said in a statement on May 20.
Cordileone told Gloria Purvis, host of America Media’s “The Gloria Purvis Podcast,” that his public statement came after several meetings with Pelosi over the years in which he sought to “help her understand the grave evil she is committing, the scandal that she causes, and the danger to her soul that she risks.”
“Just earlier this month, as she has done many times before, she explicitly raised her Catholic faith while justifying abortion as a ‘choice,’ this time explicitly against Pope Francis,” his statement read.
Pelosi responded Tuesday morning in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I wonder what the death penalty is, what I’m against,” she said. “The church too, but they don’t take action against people who don’t share their opinion. … So we have to pray. We have to be respectful.”
“I come from a largely pro-life Italian-American Catholic family, so I respect people’s opinions. But I don’t respect that we force it on others. Now our Archbishop has also been vehemently against LGBTQ rights; he has been at the forefront of some initiatives — one initiative in the California vote. So this decision that brings us to privacy and precedent is very dangerous in the lives of many Americans.”
“I come from a largely pro-life Italian-American Catholic family, so I respect people’s opinions. But I have no respect for us forcing it on others.” – Nancy Pelosi.
While Cordelone’s ban only applies to ordained and non-ordained ministers, in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Pelosi represents California’s 12th congressional district, located entirely in San Francisco.
A lifelong Catholic, Pelosi is known for the proposed law to protect women’s health. The law would preserve the legal right to abortion in the United States, should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v Wade — the case that set a precedent for legalizing abortion. Pelosi gave a strong interview to the Seattle Times earlier in May, discussing her support for the law.
“Just the idea that they [Republicans] women would tell the size, timing or whatever of their family, the personal nature of this is so terrible, and I say that as a devout Catholic. They said, “Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the Pope.” Yes, I do. Are you crazy?” Pelosi reportedly said.
While Cordelone has included Pelosi’s “opposition” to Pope Francis in his expressed concern, some believe it is an attempt to detain the Pope.
Pelosi had a private meeting with Pope Francis last October (just a month earlier, on September 15). Francis warned against weaponizing the sacrament when asked for his opinion on refusing communion to pro-choice politicians.
“I have never refused communion to anyone,” Pope Francis said on the flight from Bratislava to Rome. “When the church, to defend a principle, acts in a non-pastoral way, it takes sides on the political front – it always has,” Francis said. “‘What’s a Pastor to Do?'” Be a Pastor. Don’t judge. Be a pastor, for he is also a pastor for the excommunicated people.”
He said bishops should be “pastors with the style of God, which is closeness, compassion, and tenderness.”
The Pope said that “Communion is not a prize for the perfect” but rather “a gift, the presence of Jesus in his church and the community. That is theology” – a reference to Evangelii Gaudium, his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation.
However, Francis also said he understood why the church is taking a tough stance because accepting abortion is “a bit like accepting daily murder.”
In the US, however, Cordelone is only the latest in a string of times that a communion ban has been imposed on a politician.
President Joe Biden was denied communion by a South Carolina priest while campaigning in the state in 2019. In 2004, John Kerry was banned from connecting in at least one diocese; senior Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois has reportedly been unable to receive communion in Springfield, Illinois, the diocese where he grew up for the past 17 years.
While some conservative bishops have expressed support for Cordileone’s decision, others, such as Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the leader of the Archdiocese of Washington, have indicated that they have no intention of denying communion to politicians who disagree with the rule—religious teaching.
