Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a practicing Catholic, was banned from receiving communion last week by the Arch Diocese of San Francisco called her out for her support of abortion.
Rep Pelosi, however, not being the kind of person who takes personal attacks lying down, pushed back on the Church, demanding to know why it was only her who was banned.
She went on MSNBC’s show Morning Joe, pondering why supporters of the death penalty, often times Republicans, weren’t also being banned. She said, “I wonder about the death penalty, which I am opposed to. So is the church but they take no action against people who may not share their view.”
She then emphasized her own family’s pro-Life stance, claiming she has respect for pro-life advocates despite her constant push to expand abortion in the United States. “We just have to be prayerful, we have to be respectful. I come from a largely pro-life Italian American Catholic family, so I respect people’s views about that, but I don’t respect us foisting it onto others.”
However, it wasn’t long before Pelosi’s defense of herself turned into an attack on her previous church, specifically Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone who announced the ban.
She tore into the leader of the San Francisco Catholic Church for his opposition to LGBTQ rights, saying, “Now, our archbishop has been vehemently against LGBTQ rights, too — in fact, he led the way in some of the initiatives on — an initiative on the ballot in California.”
Pelosi then made an interesting choice to tie her fight to the Christian bible, specifically referencing the Gospel of Matthew, saying “So this decision, taking us to privacy and precedent, is very dangerous in the lives of so many of the American people. And again, not consistent with the Gospel of Matthew.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is clearly livid over the Church’s decision to ban her from a key part of her worship. They are now urging more Catholic diocese to do the same to take a stance on abortion. Do you think the Vatican is willing to risk political backlash to stand up for this key issue?
