Archbishop Comments on Timing of Pelosi Communion Ban
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone responded to a question about the timing of his decision to ban House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) from receiving communion over her support for abortion rights. During…
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone responded to a question about the timing of his decision to ban House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) from receiving communion over her support for abortion rights.
During an interview for America, the magazine of the Jesuits of the United States, host Gloria Purvis asked, “With all that’s going on right now – with Dobbs v. Jackson and the leaked opinion that Roe could be overturned – why make this decision now?”
He responded, “The leaked decision and the Dobbs case really have nothing to do with the timing of it.”
Cordileone pointed out Pelosi did speak with him a “couple of times” over the years.
He explained, “More recently, her advocacy for codifying the Roe decision into federal law—it’s becoming more and more extreme and more and more aggressive.”
Cordileone told Purvis he has been “trying to speak with her about this,” adding, “I’ve been debating this within my own conscience for many years, actually. So this is not something that has just come up recently. I’ve been discerning this.”
The archbishop went on to label Pelosi’s support for abortion a “scandal.”
“Scandal is an action that would lead others into error or into sin,” Cordileone said.
He added, “So the scandal here…is that someone who is strongly advocating for something as evil as abortion and taking Communion creates confusion among people. And they can begin to think that it is acceptable for a Catholic to believe this.”