House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's archbishop reportedly rebuked her over her claims of being a "devout Catholic" who supports and actually pushes abortion.
Life News said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone rebuked Pelosi for condoning the killing of innocent life amidst claiming being a "devout Catholic" last Thursday. Pelosi was reported to have defended the Democratic Party for plans to use taxpayer money to fund abortion.
In a statement dated July 22, Cordileone retorted against Pelosi's reference to herself as a Catholic as the reason that's pushing her to push for taxpayer funding of abortions. The archbishop stressed the fundamentality of the right to life that abortion destroys, which no government should be paying for. He called Pelosi's statements as mere "hypocrisy."
"Let me repeat: no one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it. The right to life is a fundamental--the most fundamental--human right, and Catholics do not oppose fundamental human rights," Cordileone said in the statement.
"To use the smokescreen of abortion as an issue of health and fairness to poor women is the epitome of hypocrisy: what about the health of the baby being killed? What about giving poor women real choice, so they are supported in choosing life? This would give them fairness and equality to women of means, who can afford to bring a child into the world," Cordileone continued.
In the height of the controversy of the USCCB allegedly going to deny communion to pro-abortion politicians, Cordilleone released a pastoral statement that declared such politicians are not worthy of receiving the Sacrament. The pastoral letter called abortion as one of the moral evils that affect the worthiness of those engaging or supporting it from the reception of Holy Communion.
"To apply these ancient requirements to the present topic, those who reject the teaching of the Church on the sanctity of human life and those who do not seek to live in accordance with that teaching should not receive the Eucharist," Cordileone said in the statement.
Cordileone stressed in his interview with CNA that pro-lifers are the ones who are worthy to call themselves "devout Catholics." He said pro-lifers are the ones who help out women in crisis for their pregnancy who are mostly poor.
"It is people of faith who run pro-life crisis pregnancy clinics; they are the only ones who provide poor women life-giving alternatives to having their babies killed in their wombs. I cannot be prouder of my fellow Catholics who are so prominent in providing this vital service. To them, I say: you are the ones worthy to call yourselves 'devout Catholics'!" Cordileone highlighted in his July 22 statement.
Life News added that archbishop along with the rest of the members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have urged the need to contradict the Democrats' plans to use taxpayer funds for abortion through a petition against it. The petition, "No Taxpayer Abortion," enlists the importance of the Hyde Amendment in saving lives that the Democrats are coercing against. The petition links to the USCCB website special section on Abortion that gives a backgrounder on the Hyde Amendment and "Answers to Common Attacks Against" it.
Last Thursday, Pelosi was reported to say that it was okay for her to force Americans to fund abortion through taxpayer money because she is a "devout Catholic" during a press conference. Pelosi was said to have been asked by EWTN Nightly News Correspondent Erik Rosales on the Democrats' refusal to vote for the Hyde Amendment into a law. Rosales pointed out that the Republicans have tried 37 times to get a vote on it but the Democrats won't allow it to be a law.
"As a devout Catholic and mother of five in six years, I feel that God blessed my husband and me with our beautiful family--five children in six years almost to the day. But that may not be what we should--and it's not up to me to dictate that that's what other people should do, and it's an issue of fairness and justice for poorer women in our country," Pelosi said during the conference after stressing that it was a matter of women's health care.
