Last Friday, the U.S. House Speaker was informed in an open letter from San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone she would be denied communion because of her continued promotion of abortion in contrast with the Catholic Church calling it a "grave sin." A prominent Catholic pro-life group told AFN on Monday it had been working for decades for action to be taken against Pelosi – "and now she's being held accountable," said Hugh Brown with American Life League.
The California Democrat hit back Tuesday on MSNBC:
Pelosi: "This is not just about terminating a pregnancy. These same people are against contraception, family planning, in vitro fertilization – it's a blanket thing, and they use abortion as the frontman for it while they try to undo so much. I respect people's views about that, but I don't respect us foisting it onto others …
"This decision taking us to privacy and precedent is very dangerous in the lives of so many American people and [it's] not consistent with the Gospel of Matthew."
In the wake of the archbishop's pronouncement, Pelosi was provided communion on Sunday by a liberal Catholic church in Washington, DC, according to LifeNews.
AFN spoke with Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute on the DC priest's standing.
"Those who are excommunicated [or] utter, interdict, or obstinately persist in grave manifest sin are not to be admitted to holy communion," he explains. "Canon Law is very clear [about this]. So, even outside of the Diocese of San Francisco, any priest who would violate this particular edict is also in violation of Canon Law."
Hichborn contends it is the defining issue of our day because Pelosi is not only rebelling against church teachings, "but then she's using the church as a bludgeon against itself."
"It could very well be the spark for what Our Lady of Akita said would be bishop against bishop and cardinal against cardinal; that there would be dissention in the ranks and a major upheaval within the church," says Hichborn. "I think we're there."
In her MSNBC remarks, Pelosi also opined that the Gospel of Matthew was the "agenda" of the Catholic Church – a position she claimed is rejected by many Catholic pro-lifers.
