Topic category:  Religion & Philosophy in the News

It should have happened long ago, but at least now it is so: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, is barred from receiving Holy Communion due to her defiance of the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion as a grave sin and abominable crime.

On May 20, 2022, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced that he had notified Ms Pelosi not to present herself for Holy Communion at Mass and priests not to give Holy Communion to her if she seeks it nevertheless.

Archbishop Cordileone explained in his letter to Ms. Pelosi: "A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ‘are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.'"

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion" sine the first century .and "[t]his teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable." It describes abortion and infanticide as "abominable crimes" and declares that "[f]ormal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense" and "[t]he Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life."

The bigger surprise to me is not Archbishop Cordeleone's announcement, but that it took so long for Holy Communion to be denied to Ms. Pelosi.

Archbishop Cordeleone had informed Ms. Pelosi by letter dated April 7, 2022 that "should [she] not publicly repudiate [her] 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."

Ms. Pelosi did not choose either alternative and so Archbishop Cordeleone made this public declaration to Ms. Pelosi: "Therefore, in light of my responsibility as the Archbishop of San Francisco to be 'concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care" (Code of Canon Law, can. 383, §1), by means of this communication I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publically repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance."

In a 2008 interview, Ms. Pelosi claimed that "as a devout, practicing Catholic," the Church has "not been able to make that definition" of when life begins" and then said that "the point is, it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose."

This month, Ms. Pelosi publicly stated that the topic of abortion "really gets me burned up in case you didn't notice, because again I'm very Catholic, devout, practicing, all of that. They would like to throw me out. But I'm not going because I don't want to make their day."

Archbishop Cordeleone made my day.

In 2004, with John  Kerry running for President as a pro-abortion supporter, I wrote the following article available at www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=999:

"House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, an ardent abortion supporter and nominal Roman Catholic, 'fully intend[s] to receive communion, one way or another,' despite Vatican opposition to the receipt of Holy Communion by persons professing to be both Catholics in a state of grace and abortion supporters.

"Ms. Pelosi explained that receiving Holy Communion is 'very important' to her. That makes good sense politically, since a Catholic who presents herself or himself for Communion thereby represents that she or he is in a state of grace and being in a state of grace (or at least appearing to be) is still a political plus.

"Will America's Catholic bishops cooperate or chastise America's Nancy Pelosi's, Tom Daschle's, Ted Kennedy's and John Kerry's? (Prominent nominally Catholic politicians tend to be Democrats, but there are some nominally Catholic Republicans who share their perverse priorities, such as Maine Senator Susan Collins.)

"That may depend upon which is more important to America's Catholic bishops, the Church's fundamental principles or its tax exemption.

"Canon 915 provides that '[t]hose... who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.'

"Bishops who are reluctant to embarrass prominent politicians need to recall that Jesus had no patience for those money changers in the Temple. Protecting the sanctity of the Temple was His paramount consideration then.

The protection of the Holy Eucharist must be the bishops' paramount consideration today.

"Averting public scandal is vital.

As St. Thomas Aquinas long ago explained, a distinction 'must be made' between secret and open sinners, and 'Holy Communion ought not to be given to open sinners when they ask for it.'

"Bishop William K. Weigand of Sacramento has called on pro-choice Catholic politicians to refrain from taking Holy Communion. 'As your bishop, I have to say clearly that anyone -- politician or otherwise -- who thinks it is acceptable for a Catholic to be pro-abortion is in very great error, puts his or her soul at risk, and is not in good standing with the Church. Such a person should have the integrity to acknowledge this and choose of his own volition to abstain from receiving Holy Communion until he has a change of heart,' he said.

"Last year, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, then Bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin, went further. He publicly decreed that Catholic legislators in his diocese who 'support procured abortion or euthanasia may not present themselves to receive Holy Communion' and are to be denied Holy Communion if they nevertheless present themselves 'until...they publicly renounce their support of these most unjust practices.' Prior private efforts to persuade had been rebuffed.

"Archbishop Burke emphasized that he did what a bishop is required to do. He explained that '[t]he duty of Catholic legislators to respect human life is....God's law,' and that bishops who 'remain silent[s] while the faith, in one of its most fundamental tenets, is...openly disobeyed by those who present themselves as sincere adherents of the faith, [has] failed most seriously and should be removed from office.'

"As Pope John Paul II proclaimed in his 1988 Apostolic Exhortation:

'Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and condition to all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.'

'For what has become a scandalously long time, the Roman Catholic Church has neglected to bar from Holy Communion many prominent nominal Catholics who publicly and proudly support abortion, in blatant violation of the fundamental Church teaching that human life is sacred and begins at conception.

"John Kerry, a nominal Catholic, is the presumptive presidential candidate of the Democrat Party. He is supporting partial-birth abortion, calling abortion a woman's right and vowing to appoint only pro-abortion justices. At the dinner hosted by NARAL Pro-Choice America (formerly, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, Kerry proclaimed, 'We are not going to turn back the clock. There is no overturning of Roe v. Wade. There is no packing of courts with judges who will be hostile to choice.'

"Kerry has created a public scandal by receiving Holy Communion while flagrantly rejecting fundamental Church teaching.

"In 1971, Kerry's Massachusetts colleague and fellow nominal Catholic, Ted Kennedy, wrote, 'Human life, even at its earliest stages, has a certain right which must be recognized--the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.' Then Roe v. Wade was decided and political expediency prevailed over Catholic principle for many ambitious politicians.

"In 1975, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) described the right to life as 'among basic human rights.' In 1998 it issued a pastoral letter chastising Catholic politicians for supporting abortion and euthanasia. Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, its president, welcomed a Vatican doctrinal note denouncing Catholic politicians who support abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, and human cloning. Bishop Gregory explained that 'Catholic politicians cannot subscribe to any notion which equates freedom or democracy with a moral relativism that denies these moral principles.'

"The sanctioning of Kerry and his kind is necessary. Like racism, abortion is a grave sin. Its tolerance is intolerable. Like covering up child abuse, tolerating the receipt of Holy Communion by pro-abortion politicians is an abomination.

"The case of Louisiana racist Leander Perez illustrates why Communion must be denied to those who are publicly rejecting fundamental church teaching. In 1962 an exasperated Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans finally excommunicated Leander Perez for opposing desegregation in Catholic schools. Perez eventually repented (as did others of his ilk), and the school integration succeeded.

"As a state judge and political boss of Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish, Perez made the lives of African-Americans miserable. But Perez could not intimidate Archbishop Rummel, who not only knew that racial segregation was sinful, but that it needed to be ended. The Archbishop noted that 'enforced racial discrimination inflicts incalculable mental and emotional cruelty and pain, physical and social privations, educational and economic restrictions upon 16 millions of our fellow citizens, and that these discriminations are unjustifiable violations of the Christian way of life and the principles of our American heritage.'

"In 1953 the Archbishop's pastoral letter, 'Blessed Are the Peacemakers,' was read aloud in the archdiocese's churches. It declared 'the unacceptability of racial discrimination.' Perez and his allies were unmoved. The Archbishop threatened in 1956 to excommunicate them, but they held protest rallies and withheld church contributions instead of repenting.

"Interestingly, segregationist Catholics formed the Association of Catholic Laymen of New Orleans and it 'asked the Pope (Pius XII) to stop Rummel from taking further steps to integrate white and Negro Catholics and to decree that racial segregation is not "morally wrong and sinful"' ("Morals" 36). The Vatican's response was a reminder that that 'the Pope had condemned racism as a major evil,' asserting 'that those who enter the Church... have rights as children in the House of the Lord.'

"In 1962, the Archbishop at last acted decisively. He announced that in the fall, the city's Catholic schools would admit black students. Perez and his allies persisted in their opposition, so the archbishop excommunicated them for continuing 'to hinder his orders or provoke the devoted people of this venerable archdiocese to disobedience or rebellion in the matter of opening our schools to all Catholic children.' They were barred from the Mass and sacraments as well as Catholic burial.'By the fall, 104 black children were admitted to the city's Catholic schools. By 1968, Perez repented and, after his death in 1969, was given a Catholic burial.

"The barring of John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and other pro-abortion nominally Catholic politicians has been too long delayed. The sooner the bar is imposed, the better. Perhaps they too will repent before death and receive a Catholic burial. Jesus did not pander to politicians, much less put monetary considerations (such as tax exemption) before principle.

"Sin should be identified as such and political correctness does not excuse sin.

"A priest who knowingly gives Communion to a pro-abortion politician commits a grave sin as well as the unworthy recipient.

"'Sacrilege consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God. Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist, for in this sacrament the true Body of Christ is made substantially present for us.' Cathecism of the Catholic Church, Section 2120.

"St. Paul was unambiguous:

'Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 1 Corinthians 11:27-28.

'Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in a state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance.' Cathecism 1415.

"'The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church. Cathecism 1395'"  

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.