Faith in Public Life Catholic Director Responds to San Francisco Archbishop Barring Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Communion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, May 20, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT

Austin Schuler, aschuler@faithinpubliclife.org

Faith in Public Life Catholic Director Responds to San Francisco Archbishop Barring Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Communion

Washington, DC. – On Friday afternoon, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone banned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Communion because of her support for abortion rights. 

John Gehring, Catholic Program Director at Faith in Public Life and author of The Francis Effect, responds:

“Turning a sacred sacrament into a political weapon is pastoral malpractice that will only further divide our parishes along partisan lines. Single-issue policing of Communion is wrong. As Pope Francis reminds us, the Eucharist is not a ‘prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.’ Speaker Pelosi has often expressed the importance of her Catholic faith with deep sincerity and met with Pope Francis at the Vatican last year. Archbishop Cordileone could play a more constructive role if he worked to bring people together across divides, dialogued with the majority of Catholics who support abortion rights and sought common ground instead of doubling down on culture-war antics.”

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Faith in Public Life is a national movement of clergy and faith leaders united in the prophetic pursuit of justice, equality and the common good. Together, with a network of over 50,000 leaders, they are leading the fight to advance just policies at the state and federal level that affirm our values and the human dignity of all.