Archbishop Cordileone?

We're calling you out.

The latest church-state kerfuffle comes from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, where Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone let Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (a Roman Catholic) know what she would no longer be allowed to partake in the sacrament of Holy Communion. At issue is Rep. Pelosi’s pro-choice stance, and, according to the letter linked above:

I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publicly repudiate your advocacy for abortion “rights” or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.

As you have not publically [sic] repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come.

This is after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops ruled in November not to deny communion to Pres. Joe Biden and other Roman Catholic politicians who support choice. So did Cordileone go rogue? And what does it mean for a Roman Catholic to be denied Holy Communion? From Timothy Gabrielli, at Religion Unplugged:

In its most basic terms, Catholics receive the really-present Christ in Communion so that they may be Christ in the world.

Catholics believe that when one consumes the Eucharist, one is incorporated into Christ and becomes bonded to others who are also part of the body of Christ on Earth. It is not simply a matter of individual belief, but of Church unity and the mission of being Christ in the world.

To set oneself outside of the practice of Communion – or to be set outside by another – is to be apart from the very practice that incorporates one into the body of Christ.

As for Speaker Pelosi, she earlier let her feelings known in an interview with the Seattle Times:

The very idea that they would be telling women the size, timing or whatever of their family, the personal nature of this is so appalling, and I say that as a devout Catholic," They say to me, 'Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the Pope.' Yes I do. Are you stupid?