Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco has barred U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion in his archdiocese because she favors the mass murder of the unborn.
The ban on Pelosi because she persists in grave, public sin has been a long time coming. Writing more than a decade ago, Canon lawyer Ed Peters said the bishops must bar Pelosi from the sacrament.
Cordileone isn’t the only bishop who has barred a pro-abortion Catholic politician from Holy Communion. He won’t be the last. But the prohibition on Pelosi raises the obvious question as to whether President Joe Biden’s archbishop in the Archdiocese of Wilmington, Delaware, William Koenig, will follow Cordileone’s lead.
Biden is as rabidly pro-abortion as Pelosi.
Letter To Pelosi
Cordileone delivered the news to Pelosi in a letter on May 19. He explained Canon law requires him to forbid Pelosi from receiving the sacrament because she persists in grave, obstinate sin and scandalizes the faithful.
Canons 915 and 916 of the Code of Canon Law govern the reception of sacrament:
Can. 915 Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.
Can. 916 A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.
Canon law does not give Cordileone a choice in the matter; he must act if a Catholic refuses to amend his or her ways.
Cordileone finally acted because Pelosi tried to codify abortion “rights” in federal law.
After reminding the obdurate feminist about Chuch teaching on procured abortion, Cordileone explained that “a Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ’are not to be admitted to Holy Communion’ (Code of Canon Law, can. 915).”
Cordileone also cited then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict, when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
“When a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that 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. When ‘these 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.’”
Cordileon explained that Pelosi has refused to speak with him about her mulish support for abortion and trying to codify 1973’s Roe v. Wade into federal law. He also reminded her about his warning. “He would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915,” he wrote, “that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
Thus did he drop the canonical hammer:
As you have not publically repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come. Therefore, in light of my responsibility as the Archbishop of San Francisco to be “concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care” (Code of Canon Law, can. 383, §1), by means of this communication I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance.
Cordileone’s move against Pelosi might not sit well with Pope Francis, who has not barred from the sacrament politicians who support the mass murder of the unborn.
Biden and Pelosi received Holy Communion at the pope’s installation Mass.
Other Catholic Politicians
Pelosi isn’t the first Catholic politician to receive such a notice.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the archdiocese of Kansas City barred Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in 2008.
Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, barred Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the son of late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in 2009.
