House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said she was “pleased” with the Vatican’s recent letter to U.S. bishops on Communion for pro-abortion politicians.
Pelosi, who is Catholic, was asked by EWTN News Nightly correspondent Erik Rosales about the topic of Communion on Thursday.
“I think I can use my own judgment on that,” Pelosi said of receiving Holy Communion.
The Speaker has long supported legal abortion and has advocated for taxpayer-funded abortion by repealing the Hyde Amendment. She has also supported the Equality Act, legislation that the U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) has warned would “punish” religious groups opposed to the redefinition of marriage and transgender ideology
Pelosi added that she was “pleased with what the Vatican put out on that subject” of Communion for pro-abortion Catholic politicians, claiming that the Vatican’s statement “basically said ‘don’t be divisive on the subject’.”
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) wrote the head of the U.S. bishops last week regarding admission to Communion.
The bishops’ conference was reportedly planning to consider a statement on the Eucharist this year, either at their spring meeting in June or at their fall meeting in November. They were planning to address the topic of admission to Communion of Catholics in public office who support permissive legislation on intrinsic evils such as abortion or euthanasia.
However, the bishops had planned to frame any statement on Communion within the larger context of general worthiness to receive Holy Communion.
The matter of Communion for pro-abortion politicians has resurfaced recently. President Joe Biden, a Catholic, supports taxpayer-funded abortion, as does Pelosi.
In January, Pelosi criticized pro-life voters on a podcast with former U.S. senator Hillary Clinton. Pelosi’s ordinary, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, responded that “No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion.”
