Help pro-life heroes expose abortion in D.C.: LifeFunder
WASHINGTON D.C, (LifeSiteNews) — A spokesperson of the archdiocese of Washington has said that Cardinal Gregory “has not instructed the priests of the [archdiocese] to refuse Communion to anyone,” implying that pro-abortion speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi will not be denied communion there.
This statement came after the archdiocesan communications office mistakenly sent out an email to the Washington Examiner on Monday saying that press inquiries regarding Nancy Pelosi’s denial of Holy Communion by her bishop – Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone – “will be ignored.”
The mistakenly sent email came in response to a Washington Examiner’s request for comments from the archbishop of Washington, after San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s decision on Thursday to bar Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion due to her continued public support for abortion.
“Just sharing for you to know what comes in. Email since Saturday, when I last checked the comms inbox has just been a couple of random people wanting to tell the Cardinal to bring down the hammer on Pelosi,” the email stated.
“Aside from Jack Jenkins at RNS, this is the only new media inquiry. It will be ignored, too.”
After the news website wrote again to ask for clarification, archdiocesan spokeswoman Patricia Zapor sent a follow-up email, apologizing for the mistake and stating that Cardinal Gregory’s position regarding the issue of pro-abortion politicians receiving Holy Communion “has not changed.”
“I apologize for the mistaken email. We have not been responding to inquiries on this topic because Cardinal Gregory’s position has not changed from what he has said in the past,” the email stated.
Back in November of 2020, Gregory made headlines when he affirmed that he would not deny giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion former Vice President Joe Biden, saying he hoped for a “conversational relationship.”
Then in a September 2021 interview with Crux, Gregory replied to a question about pro-abortion politicians receiving Holy Communion by saying that bishops are there to act as pastors rather than “police.”
In a follow-up email, Zapor declared that “the actions of Archbishop Cordileone are his decision to make in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.” She added that “Cardinal Gregory has not instructed the priests of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington to refuse Communion to anyone.”
Pope Francis appointed Gregory cardinal back in October of 2020. However, his track record shows a long list of anti-life, and anti-family abuses, not the least his decision to allow pro-abortion politicians to receive Holy Communion.
READ: There’s a long list of pro-abortion ‘Catholics’ who should be banned from Holy Communion like Pelosi
The Catholic Church teaches that the Eucharist is the literal body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The Church teaches that no Catholic who has committed a mortal sin is to present himself or herself for Holy Communion until he or she has confessed that sin in the Sacrament of Confession.
“A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ‘are not to be admitted to Holy Communion’ (Code of Canon Law, can. 915),” wrote Archbishop Cordileone in his letter to Nancy Pelosi.
Canon 915 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law instructs that: “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
A growing number of bishops across the U.S. have since publicly shared their support for Cordileone’s decision to ban Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion, including Archbishop Joseph Naumann, the the chair of the USCCB’s committee on pro-life activities, who praised Cordileone’s “patient and persevering efforts to enlighten Speaker Pelosi about the moral gravity of her extreme efforts to promote, to advocate and to initiate legislation to enshrine legalized abortion into federal law.”
Help pro-life heroes expose abortion in D.C.: LifeFunder