During her press briefing on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she can use her “own judgment” regarding the decision to receive Holy Communion, considering her pro-abortion position.
When a reporter noted that “the U.S. archbishops and the Bishops’ Conference… doesn’t want to… allow you to receive communion,” Pelosi interjected, “No, they don’t.”
Asked for her reaction to the Catholic bishops’ consideration of a document regarding whether politicians who claim to be Catholic, and yet support abortion and euthanasia and work to pass legislation that promotes them, should receive Holy Communion, Pelosi stated, “I think I can use my own judgment on that.”
I’m pretty sure Pelosi’s own judgment on communion doesn’t count. Nevertheless, she added, “But, I’m pleased with what the Vatican put out on that subject. Did you read that?… It basically said, ‘Don’t be divisive on the subject.’”
Pelosi seems confused, or more likely simply doesn’t care, about where the Catholic church stands on abortion, regardless of her opinion of her own worthiness to receive communion. In a memorandum written in 2004, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who ultimately became Pope Benedict XVI, wrote that “Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin…
“Apart from an individual’s judgment about his worthiness to present himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone,” Ratzinger continued.