OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., revealed in an accidental email to a reporter that it is turning a blind eye to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s views on abortion, which go against the Church’s doctrine.
The Washington Examiner sent a request for a response to the archdiocese after the Archdiocese of San Francisco banned the Speaker from receiving Holy Communion but was given Holy Communion when she attended church in Washington, DC on Sunday.
“Just sharing for you to know what comes in,” Archbishop Wilton Gregory said in an accidental email response to The Examiner. “Email since Saturday, when I last checked the comms inbox has just been a couple of random people wanting to tell the Cardinal to bring down the hammer on Pelosi. Aside from Jack Jenkins at RNS, this is the only new media inquiry. It will be ignored, too.”
Speaker Pelosi went to communion Last weekend in DC. Archbishop Gregory says nothing about anything. As Catholic Justices are targeted he is quite. So quiet. He only speaks up to oppose pro life Trump or support pro abortion BLM. pic.twitter.com/rskZr3GVki
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) May 24, 2022
Diocesan spokeswoman Patricia Zapor sent an email in an attempt to save face.
“I apologize for the mistaken email,” she said. “We have not been responding to inquiries on this topic because Cardinal [Wilton] Gregory’s position has not changed from what he has said in the past.”
“Cardinal Gregory has no new comment about the issue of Catholic politicians receiving Communion. The actions of Archbishop Cordileone are his decision to make in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Cardinal Gregory has not instructed the priests of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington to refuse Communion to anyone,” she said.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced on Friday that the House Speaker is banned from receiving Holy Communion due to her pro-choice stance on abortion, Fox News reported.
Abortion is strictly forbidden in the Catholic church but some Democrats who claim to be Catholic, like Pelosi and President Joe Biden, have been advocates for abortion rights.
In a letter penned to Speaker Pelosi the Archbishop informed her that she should not attempt to receive Holy Communion and, if she does, priests are to deny her.
“The Second Vatican Council, in its Decree on the Church in the Modem World, Gaudium et spes, reiterated the Church’s ancient and consistent teaching that ‘from the first moment of conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes’. Christians have, indeed, always upheld the dignity of human life in every stage, especially the most vulnerable, beginning with life in the womb. His Holiness, Pope Francis, in keeping with his predecessors, has likewise been quite clear and emphatic in teaching on the dignity of human life in the womb,” he said in the letter.
“This fundamental moral truth has consequences for Catholics in how they live their lives, especially those entrusted with promoting and protecting the public good of society. Pope St. John Paul II was also quite consistent in upholding this constant teaching of the Church, and frequently reminded us that “those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a ‘grave and clear obligation to oppose’ any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them” (cf. Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life [November 24, 2002], n. 4, §1). 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),” the Archbishop said.
“In striving to follow this direction, I am grateful to you for the time you have given me in the past to speak about these matters. Unfortunately, I have not received such an accommodation to my many requests to speak with you again since you vowed to codify the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in federal law following upon passage of Texas Senate Bill 8 last September. That is why I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publicly repudiate your advocacy for abortion ‘rights’ or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion,” he said.
“As you have not publicly 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,” he said.