Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 21, 2022 / 11:15 am (CNA).
So far only a small minority of U.S. bishops have come out publicly in support of Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone’s May 20 announcement that he is barring Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, her home diocese, until she repudiates her longstanding advocacy of abortion.
There are 194 dioceses and archdioceses in the U.S. Here is a list of those bishops who have spoken in favor of Cordileone’s action, as of May 21. Please send updates, with links to online statements if available, to smullen@catholicna.com.
California
Diocese of Oakland
+Michael Barber: “I support @ArchCardileone in the heroic and compassionate stance he took today in the protection and defense of human life. As @Pontifex said, ‘Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ.'”
— Diocese of Oakland (@oakdiocese) May 20, 2022
Diocese of Santa Rosa
Bishop Robert Vasa said on May 20 that he spoke to the pastor of St. Helena Catholic Church in St.Helena, a parish that Pelosi reportedly attends on occasion.
Vasa said, “I have visited with the pastor at St Helena and informed him that if the Archbishop prohibited someone from receiving Holy Communion then that restriction followed the person and that the pastor was not free to ignore it.”
“The new Canon (1379 §4) makes it clear that providing sacraments to someone prohibited from receiving them [has] its own possible penalties,” he said.
Colorado
Archdiocese of Denver
I support and commend my brother bishop, Archbishop Cordileone, for making this courageous, compassionate, and necessary decision. Read my full statement:https://t.co/lrPvvRjBbP https://t.co/jOOIZafbRr
— Archbishop Aquila (@ArchbishopDen) May 20, 2022
Illinois
Diocese of Springfield
I fully support and earnestly commend Archbishop Cordileone’s action in regard to Speaker Pelosi. All politicians who promote abortion should not receive holy Communion until they have repented, repaired scandal, and been reconciled to Christ and the Church. https://t.co/TTncsZWVu2
— Bishop Paprocki (@BishopPaprocki) May 20, 2022
Nebraska
Diocese of Lincoln
I support Archbishop Cordileone in his courageous pastoral outreach to a member of his flock. His actions are made as a shepherd with the heart of Christ. https://t.co/mRGCtE2ZN3
— James D Conley (@bishop_conley) May 20, 2022
Oklahoma
Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
I applaud the courage of Archbishop Cordileone and his leadership in taking this difficult step. Let us continue to pray for Abp. Cordileone, priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Speaker Pelosi, for the protection of the unborn, and for the conversion of hearts and minds. https://t.co/Nw4jH25sHy
— Archbishop Paul S. Coakley (@ArchbishopOKC) May 20, 2022
Texas
Diocese of Tyler
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Archbishop Cordileone for loving Nancy Pelosi in the Truth of Jesus Christ! https://t.co/JVLofcg5IV
— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) May 20, 2022
Washington State
Diocese of Spokane
After many attempts to engage speaker Nancy Pelosi in a conversation about her support for abortion, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has announced that speaker Pelosi is to refrain from receiving holy communion until she answers the call to repentance.
— Bishop Thomas Daly (@Bishop_Daly) May 21, 2022
Wisconsin
Diocese of Green Bay
(1/4) I wish to express my strong support for Archbishop Cordileone’s decision stating he has publicly declared that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi not be admitted to Holy Communion. https://t.co/OmdlDhJHKZ
— Bishop David Ricken (@BpDavidRicken) May 21, 2022
Diocese of Madison
Bishop Donald Hying supported Cordileone, saying: “I fully support Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s prudent decision to recognize that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, has persistently taken public positions in support of legal abortion, contrary to her professed Catholic faith, choosing to separate herself from full communion with the Catholic Church, and therefore is not to present herself for the reception of Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.”
Hying said that “Cordileone’s public statement made it clear that this serious measure is ‘purely pastoral, not political’ in a further attempt ‘to help her understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing, and the danger to her own soul she is risking…’”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Don’t any bishop even suggest that “Black Lives Matter” if they do not come out an defend the lives of defenseless and blameless unborn human persons. For a bishop not to publicly support Archbishop Cordileone’s action is for that bishop to implicitly support the killing of the unborn. No two ways about it.
Because of the craven resistance of so many in the church’s hierarchy, the poseurs of “devout catholics” has proliferated and prosyletized and perjured that church, thereby, eroding the teaching authority manifestly. That the powerful and rich can not pervert truth but we, the commoners, can so easily, has eroded all confidence in this, once, great institution and even prostituted its sanctity. At last, a hero! Archbishop Cordeloni has proclaimed: The Catholic Chuech is not for sale!
It will be interesting to see how exactly how many of our Bishops have a spine. And how many will support church law over political popularity. The real question is, how many of them will actually support what Jesus taught us? AS Jesus once asked his disciples ” Will you also leave me?”
To me the most important opinion or statement or what-have-you will be that of Cardinal Gregory in D.C., and from here there is NO way he can avoid taking a position.
What will it be? My hopes are not high on that, but I’ve been wrong many times before, so one more won’t hurt.
@ Terence McManus: Cardinal Gregory has previously indicated he would not deny Communion to Biden. Suspect he won’t publicly oppose Archbishop Cordelione but won’t support him either. Silence from Gregory, McElroy, Cupich, Tobin, is not unexpected.
Ishpeming – I know Gregory has previously said that he will not deny communion to Biden. My point is this – The fact that Archbishop Cordileone has publicly denied Holy Communion to Pelosi changes things, and so I think there is a lot of pressure on Gregory right now, MUCH more than before.
Sooner or later some reporter HAS to ask him if he is still giving Communion to Biden and those 60 other ‘catholics’ in the Congress.
I think we already know Cardinal Gregory’s position. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/11/24/analysis-archbishop-gregory-says-he-wont-deny-biden-communion-how-will-catholics-respond/
It will be interesting to see if/how the Vatican comments. Prepare to be disappointed.
Recall that earlier this year, Pope Francis welcomed and warmly received Nancy Pelosi at the Vatican, as he did subsequently with Joe Biden. Pope Francis states that abortion is murder but then openly reassures, endorses and praises aggressively pro abortion politicians.
Curious where all the other Brother Bishops are? Why are they quiet on this so critical and vital an issue for Catholics?
There are 260 Catholic bishops in this country. Where are the other bishops who constantly trumpet their support for leftist political causes, laud giving honorary degrees by Notre Dame and other Catholic universities to notorious abortionist politicians, and are photographed wreathed in smiles with abortionist politicians from Clinton, Obama, Ted Kennedy, and Pelosi on down? If further evidence is needed of the corruption and faithlessness of the American hierarchy, this is it.
Is one life as important as the next? How many abortions were performed the day the racist young man took ten lives in Buffalo? We always, and should speak out when violent racism rears its ugly head, but some Bishops act like 60 million abortions are not on an equal footing because they were not born yet. Do they really believe life begins at conception? Then speak out, and speak out loudly. There is a gulf forming. Get on the right side.
Thank you for this pertinent comment. I thought likewise after the shooting in Buffalo, and always think of the babies who have been slaughtered when the Left decries shootings across the country. Mass murders of any kind are abhorrent; most don’t come close to the millions of human lives taken by abortionists who swore an oath to “first do no harm.”
As much as it would bolster the Church’s position against abortion-killing, it’s doubtful that many other bishops will make a statement regarding Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s announcement, since NP is ‘not in their neighborhood’. I pray that our current Archbishop will be as brave as our former one, (now Cardinal) Raymond Burke, and publicly support Abp. Cordileone.
We are all “in the same neighborhood” when it comes to supporting life.
Oh don’t worry William. Nancy Pelosi may not live in or visit every diocese in America, but EVERY SINGLE DIOCESE has at least one (if not more) Catholic politicians who are pro-infanticide at the federal or state legislature level. Every US citizen ought to know who their “elected” officials are, regardless of religion, and be in contact with them, ESPECIALLY a Catholic bishop who speaks for the many souls under his care
I’m of two minds on this. While the support of other bishops for Abp. Cordileone’s action is welcome, it’s debatable whether it is useful or even right for a bishop to speak out publicly unless and until he is also ready to back up his words with action.
At least we can identify the pseudo-Catholic bishops and archbishops who have remained silent on this important pro-life support. Shame on the 183 who have not announced public support for Archbishop Cordileone’s restriction on Nancy Pelosi. One hundred and ninety-three bishops and archbishops should be on this list. How will they explain their silence when the time comes?
Perfect opportunity for the USCCB to publicly profess unity of Church teaching. Will they?
Scandalous. And the episcopate wonders why it has no credence. The practical atheists among the citizenry [who account for the largest component the self-proclaimed members of our own Church and the other Christian confessions] don’t know what the episcopate is and the faithful are left to mourn.
Thirty pieces.
Dear Florida Bishops, where are you?
Could the majority of Catholic bishops possibly be more spineless and less inspirational than they already are?
I don’t see how.
It’s not unusual for me to wonder whether our priests and bishops actually even believe what the Church teaches.
If they did, things wouldn’t be the way they are. Our Church wouldn’t treat a million abortions a year as business-as-usual the way we do. The way we have for fifty years now — and counting.
A million children a year in America alone. And scores of millions around the world, supported and sponsored by the American taxpayer.
In fact, if the children killed worldwide over the past half century were added up, they would qualify as one of the ten most populous countries in the world.
And more than a hundred American bishops have nothing to say. Nothing to say.
Nothing to say.
Apparently — incredibly — they think it’s no big deal.
And, meanwhile, half of all Catholics keep voting for blood-ravening, death-dealing Democrats.
Our Lord Jesus Christ deserves so much better than this Church.
“I knew you before I formed you in the womb.”
Do you know that this verse from Jeremiah is also the battle cry of those fighting for LGBTQ+ rights?
Alleluia! The culture warrior bishops! This is a gallery of the same bishops who are disloyal and disrespectful of the Pope by taking the side of the mothballed Archbishop Vigano as he initially lobbed later-debunked accusations against Pope Francis.
Dear Ohio Bishops, where are you?
South Dakota Bishops, WHERE ARE YOU?? Admonishing sinners is the responsibility of every catholic, but especially our church leaders. We need you to lead us in saving souls and lives!!
Where does the Bishop of Saginaw, Michigan stand on this issue?
Also Bisjop Liam Cary of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon: https://dioceseofbaker.org/statement-on-the-letter-of-archbishop-cordileone-to-nancy-pelosi
The abortion debate is a good litmus test for dividing true Catholics from the CINOs…..catholic in name only.
And Archbishops Gomez and Vigneron – Pres. & Vice Pres. of the USCCB? For
me the most disappointing absence is Archbishop Chaput.
Wondering if/when Archbishop Lori (Baltimore), chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, will publicly support Abp Cordileone.
Chaput is retired.
Caution: Bishop Tobin of Providence, RI is a practicing Catholic, and his views may offend some people with a 29-cent home-made worldview.
From Bishop Tobin: Rhode Island Catholic leaders need to be in a “state of grace” to receive Communion. “Fully supports statement” to Speaker Pelosi
May 23, 2022 / Nancy Thomas
Excerpts:
The Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, Bishop Thomas Tobin responded to our request for the church’s guidance to local Catholic politicians about receiving communion if they are pro-abortion in their public platforms.
[later]
Many years ago, Mary Ann Sorrentino, serving as Exective Director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island at the time, was “excommunicated” by Bishop Gelineau, head of the Diocese of Providence for her role in support of, advocating for, and facilitating abortions by her position at PPRI.
[later]
RINewsToday asked Bishop Tobin directly what he would like to say in response the Archbishop’s statement and/or to Rhode Island legislators and leaders, as well as the general public. He asked us to contact the Diocese’s Communications Department for the statement they have developed.
Here is Bishop Tobin’s response to Archbishop Cordileone’s statement:
“Archbishop Cordileone has written a thoughtful, well-reasoned and compassionate letter that accurately reflects the teaching and the law of the Church. I fully support the Archbishop’s statement.
Any contacts I’ve had with Catholic leaders in Rhode Island about this issue over the years have been personal, pastoral and confidential, and for now I prefer to maintain that approach.
It is a good moment to recall, however, that all Catholics need to be in union with the Church, spiritually prepared, and in the state of grace, before they presume to approach the Table of the Lord to receive Holy Communion.“
Bishop Cordileone should already make it clear now that he will not celebrate the funeral mass for Pelosi when she dies without having repented.