Pray for Pelosi: Archbishop endorses 'Rose and Rosary for Nancy' campaign

From CNS:

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco is asking “all Catholics and others of goodwill” to join a prayer and fasting campaign for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic Democrat who supports legal abortion.

She represents California’s 12th Congressional District, which is entirely within San Francisco.

What has prompted the prayer and fasting campaign is her leadership on the Women’s Health Protection Act, or H.R. 3755, passed by the House in a 218-211 vote Sept. 24.

It codifies the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. The measure establishes the legal right to abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy in all 50 states under federal law.

“A conversion of heart of the majority of our congressional representatives is needed on this issue, beginning with the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” Archbishop Cordileone said in a statement Sept. 29.

“I am therefore inviting all Catholics to join in a massive and visible campaign of prayer and fasting for Speaker Pelosi: Commit to praying one rosary a week and fasting on Fridays for her conversion of heart,” he said.

He asked Catholics to sign up for the Benedict XVI Institute’s “Rose and Rosary for Nancy” campaign at BenedictInstitute.org. “A rose will be sent to her as a symbol of your prayer and fasting for her.”

Pelosi, he said, “speaks fondly” of her five children; she also has nine grandchildren.

“She clearly has a maternal heart,” Archbishop Cordileone continued. “Pope Francis has called abortion murder, the equivalent of hiring a hitman to solve a problem. The solution to a woman in a crisis pregnancy is not violence but love.

“Please join me in praying the rosary and fasting for a conversion of Speaker Pelosi’s maternal heart to embracing the goodness and dignity of human life not only after birth, but in the womb as well.”