Nancy Pelosi: ‘My Public Service Is Based on My Faith, Springs From My Faith’

(CNSNews.com) – On Dec. 14, 2022, one of her final days as speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) gave a speech in the Capitol during the ceremony that marked the unveiling of her official portrait, which now hangs in the Capitol.

In that speech, Pelosi spoke about how her faith inspired her public service.

“In a moment, you will hear from Father Privett, my dear friend,” said Pelosi. “As you know, my public service is based on my faith, springs from my faith. I’ll never forget the prayer that Father Privett delivered on the floor during my swearing-in as Speaker in 2007, and it is so special that you are with us today. Thank you, Father Privett, for that.”

Having cited her faith as the spring from which her public service flows, Pelosi then talked about “the goddess of history” and concluded that “she will look favorably upon our achievements.”

“We are in Statuary Hall,” said Pelosi. “And everyone who knows – every time I speak in Statuary Hall, I call to people’s attention the goddess of history, the muse of history, Clio. Clio records all that she observes. And I keep saying to the Members, Clio is writing down in the book. Mr. Leader, Kevin, you have heard this so many times here. And my colleagues: I’m confident that she will look favorably upon our achievements.”

In closing her speech at the unveiling of her official portrait, Pelosi said, “And may God continue to bless America.”

“To my colleagues: thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can never thank you enough,” said Pelosi. “I thank you for your support, but more importantly for your patriotism and what you are all doing, on both sides of the aisle, for our country. And I think that every one of you is a blessing to our country. And may God continue to bless America.”

In May 2022, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco notified Pelosi that because she persisted in advocating legalized abortion she could no longer receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. In doing so, Cordileone cited an instruction that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had sent to the Catholic bishops of the United States in 2004.

That instruction said:

“… 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), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.  When ‘these precautionary measures have not had their effect …,’ and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, ‘the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it.’”

In a notification he sent to then-Speaker Pelosi in May, Archbishop Cordileone explained why he had to apply this policy of the Catholic Church to Pelosi:

“In striving to follow this direction, I am grateful to you for the time you have given me in the past to speak about these matters.  Unfortunately, I have not received such an accommodation to my many requests to speak with you again since you vowed to codify the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in federal law following upon passage of Texas Senate Bill 8 last September.  That is why I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publically 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 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.  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.”

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