U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remained defiant on Tuesday in her support of abortion, voicing support on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced on May 20 that Pelosi may no longer receive Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco after publicly supporting abortion as a Catholic politician.
Pelosi responding for the first time after she was barred, she gave no indication that her position on abortion, and how she speaks about it as a Catholic, will change.
She also did not say whether she intends to continue to present herself for Communion.
Catholics believe that when one consumes the Eucharist, one is incorporated into Christ and becomes bonded to others who are also part of the body of Christ on Earth. It is not simply a matter of individual belief, but of Church unity and the mission of being Christ in the world.
To set oneself outside of the practice of Communion – or to be set outside by another – is to be apart from the very practice that incorporates one into the body of Christ.
Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, California, where Pelosi’s Napa vacation home is located, had also announced that he, too, will bar Pelosi from Holy Communion.
During her appearance on “Morning Joe”, Pelosi directly mentioned Cordileone once, to criticize him for being “vehemently against LGBTQ rights.”
During the show she also explicitly criticized the pro-life groups for rejecting the Gospel message, without offering any explanation.
The speaker referenced her Catholic background saying, “I come from a largely pro-life Italian-American Catholic family, so I respect people’s views about that,” she said, referring to abortion. “But I don’t respect us foisting it onto others.”
Over the years, Pelosi has defended abortion several times all the while citing her Catholic faith.
Pelosi called abortion a “cover for a lot of other things that the far right wants to accomplish” and concluded that, now, a “woman’s decision” regarding abortion is a “kitchen table issue.”
-CNA