President Donald Trump on Thursday named San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to serve on the advisory board of the newly-created Religious Liberty Commission.
Archbishop Cordileone made headlines in 2022 after denying then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Holy Communion due to her public support and promotion of abortion. The commission was created via executive order on May 1 in order to “vigorously enforce the historic and robust protections for religious liberty enshrined in Federal law.”
“Religious liberty is a critical issue in our time that needs to be defended and addressed,” Cordileone said in a statement. “I am happy to join my brother bishops in providing a Catholic voice on this important topic at a national level.”
The Archdiocese referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the public statement in response to a request for comment.
Cordileone said in 2022 his decision to deny Pelosi communion was rooted in Church teaching and that lawmakers must oppose any law that isn’t protecting life.
“After numerous attempts to speak with Speaker Pelosi 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 she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion,” Cordileone stated on Twitter at the time.
The Religious Liberty Commission is meant to investigate attacks on religious liberty in the United States and design strategies to preserve the right. The commission will be composed of several “educated representatives of various sectors of society” who will report their findings and recommendations to the White House.
The Biden administration was accused of infringing on religious freedom after it attempted to force religious doctors and hospitals to perform transgender surgeries despite the procedures conflicting with their faith. Former President Joe Biden, a reportedly devout Catholic, later took flak for issuing a proclamation for a “transgender day of visibility” on Easter Sunday.
The FBI under the previous administration also reportedly “abused its counterterrorism tools” to target Catholics and pro-life advocates, labeling them as “potential domestic terrorists,” according to the House Weaponization Subcommittee. The committee was referring to a February 2023 memo from the Richmond field office that described traditionalist Roman Catholics as “radical,” which the Bureau eventually retracted.
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