Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) professes herself to be a devout Catholic, even as she is starkly at odds with the Church in terms of her staunch support for abortion and outspoken advocacy on behalf of same-sex marriage and gender transitioning for young children.
That all came to a head on Thursday when Pelosi, albeit without mentioning his name, launched a concerted verbal assault and stern rebuke toward San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Breitbart reported.
Rep. Pelosi on Thursday sat for an extended interview with Reverend Jim Wallis at Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice to discuss how she has mixed her politics and faith over the decades that she has served in Washington D.C.
In reference to Archbishop Cordileone, Pelosi said, "How can I say this nicely? There’s just no way. We’ve had very, very negative anti-LGBTQ stuff coming from our archbishop and others."
She accused him of being "responsible for putting on the ballot Proposition 8 because he had all this conservative money that put this on the ballot, something about marriage. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but we got rid of it later."
What she was referencing there was a 2008 ballot initiative to amend California's Constitution to define marriage as being only between a man and woman that voters had approved but was later overturned by the courts.
Pelosi further accused Cordileone of leading "every parade against women honoring their own sense of responsibility or LGBTQ," which was in reference to the archbishop's annual participation in the March for Marriage and Walk for Life West Coast events.
She went on to insinuate that because the archbishop is opposed to abortion, same-sex marriage, and gender transitions for children, "He’s made it very clear: Maybe we’re not all God’s children. Maybe we do not have a free will."
But Pelosi wasn't done yet, as the Religion News Service reported that the California congresswoman also took issue with how Archbishop Cordileone had previously barred her from receiving Holy Communion on account of her unrelenting efforts to fully legalize abortion with no limits whatsoever.
"Yeah, I had a problem with my archbishop, well, the archbishop of the city I represent. But I figure that’s his problem, not mine, because I had five children in six years," Pelosi said, per Breitbart.
Indeed, in May 2022, Cordileone issued a statement that formally barred the pro-abortion congresswoman from receiving communion in any church within his diocese. RNS noted that a few other bishops have similarly announced that they would bar Pelosi from receiving communion or taking part in the Eucharist, though she has continued to do both at Catholic churches in the Washington D.C. area.
The outlet noted that there had also been some discussion among Catholic bishops about denying Holy Communion to President Joe Biden, who also professes to be a devout Catholic but similarly advocates for no-limit abortions, but nothing ever really came of that debate.
It is hard to see how Pelosi can continue to call herself a devout Catholic when she is clearly out of step with the Church on several major issues.
In the meantime, at least, it seems apparent that she most likely won't be attending any services presided over by Archbishop Cardileone any time soon.
