ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

U.S. House Speaker Pelosi barred from Catholic communion over abortion stance

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., reads from the Bible, as she reacts to President Donald Trump during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., reads from the Bible, as she reacts to President Donald Trump during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Share

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can no longer take communion because she supports abortion rights and also publicly invokes her Catholic faith, the archbishop of San Francisco said in a letter released on Friday.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in an open letter addressed to Pelosi and in another directed toward the faithful that "Pelosi's position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months."

Pelosi's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The archbishop's decision comes after the leak earlier this month of a draft Supreme Court opinion indicating the top court would strike down the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

Cordileone said Pelosi had not responded to his requests to meet in the months since she pledged to codify abortion protections in federal law after lawmakers in conservative states passed near total-bans on abortions at the state level.

The archbishop said he sent Pelosi a private letter in April, warning that he would bar her from communion unless she publicly repudiated her support for abortion rights or stopped referring to her Catholic faith in public.

Cordileone highlighted comments Pelosi made to the Seattle Times editorial board this month, citing her Catholic faith and support for abortion rights, then said: "They say to me, 'Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the Pope.' Yes I do. Are you stupid?"

In his letter to the faithful, Cordileone wrote that "my action here is purely pastoral, not political."

"Speaker Pelosi remains our sister in Christ," the archbishop wrote. "Her advocacy for the care of the poor and vulnerable elicits my admiration."

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Top Hezbollah commander among 12 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and several members of the group's elite Radwan unit in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, the Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.