Growing number of US bishops in support of barring Pelosi from receiving Communion

Multiple Catholic bishops have reportedly come out in support of the embattled high-ranking clergyman who’s facing the wrath of the left for prohibiting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion.

As previously reported, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone first made headlines in April when he announced that he would bar the speaker from receiving Holy Communion unless she relinquished her staunchly pro-abortion views.

Pelosi ultimately refused, prompting Cordileone to make the ban official late last month:

While Cordileone’s ban didn’t stop Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion elsewhere, it did provoke an intense backlash from the establishment left.

However, a number of other bishops across the country are now speaking up in defense of Cordileone. Some have even followed in his footsteps.

Over in Santa Rosa, California, Bishop Robert Vasa announced on May 20th that he too would be barring Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion.

“I have visited with the pastor at St Helena and informed him that if the Archbishop prohibited someone from receiving Holy Communion then that restriction followed the person and that the pastor was not free to ignore it. The new Canon (1379 §4) makes it clear that providing sacraments to someone prohibited from receiving them has its own possible penalties,” he said in a statement.

Five days later in Arlington, Virginia, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge said that since Cordileone is Pelosi’s bishop, he’ll respect Cordileone’s wishes.

“He is her bishop and as that bishop the direction and guidance he provides is not limited to just a geographical area,” he said on the May 25th edition of “The Walk Humbly Podcast”:

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, quickly followed suit.

“I expressed my support for Archbishop Cordileone’s decision to ban Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion because I believe this is the loving act of a true shepherd. Mrs. Pelosi adamantly supports abortion and thus adamantly opposes the teaching of the Church,” he told Fox News this week.

“Of course, her judgment is in the hands of the Lord but as shepherds, we are charged with the responsibility to teach the flock and to correct them when they are in error. To advocate for a person’s right to take innocent life, thus to advocate murder, is clearly contrary to Catholic teaching,” he added.

Even the bishop in Portland, Oregon — one of the most far-left cities in America — has come out in support of Cordileone.

“The church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave evil, and that public advocacy for and support of abortion is, objectively speaking, such a manifest grave sin,” Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample said Friday in a Facebook video.

“What Archbishop Cordileone did was actually an act of pastoral love and care for Speaker Pelosi and for all those entrusted to his pastoral care, who might have been led astray by her public support of the evil of abortion. That’s why what Archbishop Cordileone did was the right thing,” he said.

Listen:

Archbishop Sample on Archbishop Cordileone’s Statement on Speaker Pelosi

Archbishop Sample comments on the statement of Archbishop Cordileone regarding Speaker Pelosi.

Posted by Archbishop Alexander K. Sample on Thursday, May 26, 2022

Despite all this support, it appears, for all intents and purposes, that it doesn’t extend to Pope Francis.

“Pope Francis named Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego as one of the 21 new cardinals on Sunday, passing over the higher-ranking archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

“It was unclear whether Francis’ decision to pass over Cordileone was tied to Cordileone’s announcement that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would not be allowed to receive Communion because of her support for abortion rights. Francis has previously denounced politically weaponizing Communion.”

Most believe the Pope’s decision was meant as a direct “rebuke” of Cordileone.

And indeed, Cordileone is now facing mockery from the left:

Vivek Saxena

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