Pelosi and Vatican v. Canon Law

The Vatican's recent call for endless dialogue on banning public heretics from the Eucharist set the stage for the U.S. speaker of the House to dismiss American prelates looking to enforce canon law.

In a press conference Thursday, a reporter asked House speaker and aggressive pro-abort Nancy Pelosi her thoughts on those American prelates who might ban her and her ilk from Holy Communion.

Nancy Pelosi: "I think I can use my own judgment on that. I'm pleased with what the Vatican put out on that subject. Did you read that?"

Reporter: "That it'll be up to the individual priest?"

Nancy Pelosi: "No. It basically said, 'Don't be divisive on the subject.' Thank you."

Pelosi referred to last week's letter from Cdl. Luis Ladaria of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The prelate advised the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (the "USCCB") to be generic in establishing guidelines on worthy reception of the Eucharist. But Ladaria's call for greater ambiguity is a divorce from canonical clarity, Canon 915 and clear instruction from the Vatican, already established. 

In a 2004 letter to the USCCB, the then-chief doctrinal watchdog, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, said:

Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person's formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws) ... he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin; he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.

In his own letter to the USCCB, Ladaria dismissed that 2004 correspondence, claiming then-cardinal Ratzinger was only stipulating and the text wasn't intended for publication.

Pelosi's archbishop is Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.

In a recent pastoral letter, titled "Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You," Cordileone wrote, "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."

The prelate discussed the letter on Monday.

Abp. Salvatore Cordileone:

I do not have a political motive for doing this. I would rather a pro-abortion politician become a pro-life politician than be replaced by one who is pro-life because we expand the pool of those who are pro-life in public life. So my purpose is not to sway votes; my purpose is to save souls.

It's unclear if Cordileone has spoken with Pelosi or denies her Communion.