House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been reported to react to Catholic leaders' discussion on whether pro-abortion politicians should receive communion.
According to The Christian Post (CP) Pelosi was asked to react by a reporter on the issue during her weekly press conference last Thursday. Pelosi said she can use her "own judgment" on the matter and even "characterized the message" of the Vatican about it "differently." She was "pleased with what the Vatican put out on that subject."
"I think I can use my own judgment on that," Pelosi said during the conference after negating that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops don't want her to receive communion because of her pro-abortion stance.
"No, it basically said 'don't be divisive on the subject,'" she stressed, negating what the reporter said the pro-abortion politician's reception of Holy Communion would be dependent on individual priests.
Last week, the Vatican through its Congregation For The Doctrine Of Faith Prefect Cardinal Luis Ladaria responded to the letter sent by USCCB President Archbishop Jose Gomez last March regarding the issue of denying communion to politicians and high-profile public officials who are pro-abortion.
Ladaria suggested the USCCB to dialogue on the issue among themselves and to dialogue with pro-abortion Catholic public officials to better understand their stand on the matter. Ladaria welcomed the idea that USCCB would come out with a national policy on the matter but advised the need to weigh it based on the results of their dialogue and on whether it would be "a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the Catholic Church in the United States".
CP pointed out in a separated report that Pelosi's bishop, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone already announced that she can not receive communion based on the pastoral letter released on the matter last May 1.
Pelosi, who is from the Archdiocese of California, is known for her "strong support of legal abortion", CP stressed, and Cordileon's pastoral letter clearly stated that politicians who can not "abandon" their "advocacy for abortion" are advised "not to come forward to receive communion".
"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," Cordileon said in Section 3 of his pastoral letter.
"We all fall short in various ways, but there is a great difference between struggling to live according to the teachings of the Church and rejecting those teachings," he pointed out.
President Joe Biden was actually denied communion by a priest from South Carolina's St. Anthony Catholic Church because of "his policy stances on abortion," CP noted.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center last March showed that 55% of Catholic Republicans agree that pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be denied communion while 87% of Catholic Democrats disagree about it being denied. The 29% think that Biden should be denied communion because of his stand on abortion while 67% of Catholic Americans disagree Biden should be denied communion. Overall, the survey shows that Catholics are divided on the issue.
"Overall, seven-in-ten Catholic Democrats believe that Catholic politicians who disagree with the church about any of the four issues raised by the survey should still be allowed to receive Communion," Pew Research said.
Pew Research raised four issues in their survey: abortion, the death penalty, immigration, and homosexuality.
