Nancy Pelosi Faces a Choice | Mary Rice Hasson | First Things
Actions have consequences, and Pelosi now has a choice to make because of her deliberate and systematic actions. Last May, Salvatore Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco, issued a pastoral letter reprimanding public figures who profess to be Catholic and promote abortion. He called this cravenness a matter of persistent, obdurate, and public rejection of Catholic teaching. Last Friday, Archbishop Cordileone fulfilled his pastoral duty, announcing that, in accordance with Church law, specifically Canon 915, Pelosi is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate[s] her support for abortion rights and confess[es] and receive[s] absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance.
To be clear, the notification does not sanction or punish Pelosi. It is not an excommunication, either. It is an official, public finding of fact. Church law requires all Catholics who are conscious of grave sin to refrain, of their own accord, from receiv[ing] the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession (Can. 916). It also stipulates that Those& obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion (Can. 915).
This opposition to abortion is enduring and unambiguous. Pelosi knows this. Furthermore, the Church s concern about Catholic public figures who promote abortion has been a recurring theme of Pope Francis’s teaching documents and statements. Pelosi knows this, too.
In 2004, then-Cardinal Ratzinger advised U.S. bishops on the appropriate pastoral steps they should take before applying Canon 915: Seek a personal meeting with the individual who has wavered; convey Catholic teaching; and instruct him or her not to approach Communion, absent a public change of heart. Ratzinger charged that if these efforts failed, Canon 915 should then be applied, meaning the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it to the individual. Archbishop Cordileone described the spiritual weight of this responsibility in his 2021 letter: if I do not forthrightly challenge Catholics under my pastoral care who advocate for abortion, both they and I will have to answer to God for innocent blood.
Pelosi is not a thoughtful person. She’s just a political hack who made the big time. It’s unfortunate that she’s Catholic. If it somehow became politically expedient to cook the ethnic group of your choice and serve them up as appetizers, she’d be all for that, I’m sure. She also likes insider trading, recall. Her reasons are basically stupid — well, she likes making money, which is fine, but not (more or less) stealing from shareholders, which is not fine. Not as bad as killing babies, but still.