Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco published a letter last week informing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she could not receive the sacrament of Holy Communion until she recants her public support for abortion.
Pelosi’s response is curious. “I respect people’s views about that. But I don’t respect us foisting it onto others.”
Isn’t this what archbishops do? Isn’t this what the Catholic Church does? The church informs the faithful about what is acceptable and what is sinful. If Pelosi doesn’t think that supporting the right to abort a baby isn’t sinful, perhaps she should go found her own church where abortion isn’t murder.
And Pelosi tried some classic left-wing deflection by claiming that Cordileone is anti-LGBTQ. “Our archbishop has been vehemently against LGBTQ rights. In fact he led the way in an initiative on the ballot in California.”
What do abortion rights have to do with LGBTQ rights? Nothing, of course. But when trying to trigger a response from left-wing nuts, it’s best to press as many hot buttons as necessary.
Pelosi said women and families need to know this is about more than abortion. “These same people are against contraception, family planning, in vitro fertilization. It’s a blanket thing and they use abortion as the front man for it.”
Cordileone has said he told Pelosi that she must either repudiate her support of abortion rights or stop speaking publicly about her Catholic faith. In a separate letter to church members, he said he had asked several times to meet with Pelosi but that her office didn’t respond or told him she was busy.
Yes, there is a pathetically small number of right-wingers who want to turn the clock back to the 1950s. But the narrative demands that banning birth control be raised despite the chances of success being less than zero.
However, each bishop has authority in his own diocese on this matter, and the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, has affirmed that Biden is welcome to receive the sacrament there.
No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Richard Durbin of Illinois, who has been denied Communion for years by his Springfield, Illinois, diocese due to his abortion-rights views, voiced support Tuesday for Pelosi. “I still believe that the authorities in the church believe that we have issues that can only be decided by our own conscience and not by some bishop’s conference,” Durbin told reporters.
This is an issue that the Catholic Church is going to have to reckon with. Is abortion murder? If so, how can advocates for murder be considered good Catholics and in a state of grace to receive the sacraments? If it isn’t, why not perform abortions at Catholic hospitals?
The Catholic Church straddles this issue because taking a strong stand against abortion would tear the modern church apart. The men in charge in Rome know that abortion as an issue is a powderkeg and will continue to advocate for life while tolerating most Catholics who support abortion.
It’s an unsatisfactory state of affairs but necessary for the church’s survival in the West.
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