Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has accepted an invitation from San Francisco’s archbishop to discuss whether she should continue to receive communion at the Catholic Church in the wake of comments she made about abortion.
San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer requested the meeting after receiving letters and e-mails from “many Catholics” expressing dismay over Pelosi’s remarks that the question of when life begins remained controversial within the church. He said many of those writing questioned whether Pelosi should be able to receive communion.
{mosads}Pelosi made the remarks in an Aug. 24 interview with “Meet the Press” host Tom Brokaw. In response to Brokaw’s question, “When does life begin?” Pelosi answered, “We don’t know. The point is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.” She went on to say, “I don’t think anyone can tell you when life begins — when human life begins.”
After Brokaw said that the Catholic Church believes strongly that life begins at conception, Pelosi said, “I understand,” but went on to say it had been an issue of controversy within the church for the past 50 years.
Her comments have been criticized by several Catholic Church officials, and Niederauer described them as being “in serious conflict” with the church in the Sept. 5 issue of Catholic San Francisco. Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl issued a separate statement the day after Pelosi’s “Meet the Press” appearance, criticizing the comments as “incorrect.”
Niederauer concluded that, based on Catholic Church statements, it is up to him as Pelosi’s pastor to address whether she may continue to receive communion.
“Accordingly, as her pastor, I am writing to invite her into a conversation with me about these matters. It is my obligation to teach forthrightly and to shepherd caringly, and that is my intent.
“Let us pray together that the Holy Spirit will guide us all toward a more profound understanding and appreciation for human life, and toward a resolution of these differences in truth and charity and peace,” Niederauer wrote.
{mospagebreak}Niederauer praised Pelosi as “a gifted, dedicated and accomplished public servant” who has supported legislation that has helped to implement some of the Catholic Church’s social teachings.
He also noted that Pelosi has “often said how highly she values her Catholic faith, and how much it is a source of joy for her.”
In a response hand-delivered to Niederauer on Friday, Pelosi thanked him for the invitation and his gracious remarks about her love for the church and her Catholic faith.
{mosads}“I welcome the opportunity for our personal conversation and to go beyond our earlier most cordial exchange about immigration and needs of the poor to Church teaching on other significant matters,” she wrote. “I hope that we can meet at your earliest convenience.
“I join you in your hope and prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide our discussions in truth and charity and peace.”
The receiving of communion by pro-abortion rights politicians has been a matter of controversy within the Catholic Church in recent years, most notably during Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) presidential run in 2004. Several bishops said Kerry, who like Pelosi is a Catholic, should not receive communion because of his pro-abortion rights position.
Niederauer said he wrote the article because it is his responsibility “to oppose erroneous, misleading and confusing positions when they are advanced.” He described Pelosi’s comments as “opposed” to church teaching.
In an August interview on C-SPAN, Pelosi said that if communion were withheld from her, it would be “a severe blow.”
“It depends on the bishop or a certain region, and, fortunately for me, communion has not been withheld and I’m a regular communicant, so that would be a severe blow to me if that were the case,” she said at the time.
{mospagebreak}Niederauer quoted a section of the catechism of the Catholic Church to underline his point that when life begins is not controversial within the church. According to the catechism, he said, “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.
“Since the first century, the church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.”
Niederauer also criticized an Aug. 26 statement from Pelosi’s office about her comments on “Meet the Press.” In the statement, Pelosi’s office said that while the Catholic Church believes life begins at conception, “many Catholics” do not agree with this view.
{mosads}“Authentic moral teaching is based on objective truth, not polling,” Niederauer wrote. He noted that in 1861, polls in different states showed different views on slavery, but this did not mean that slavery was moral in one state and immoral in another.
During Kerry’s presidential run, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis and other Catholic Church pastors said Kerry and other pro-abortion rights politicians should not receive communion.
In 2004, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) produced a memorandum on how the church should handle offering communion to pro-abortion rights politicians, as well as how followers should handle pro-abortion rights candidates.
It made it clear that communion could be withheld from a politician who favors abortion rights or euthanasia by the politician’s pastor.
Archbishop Niederauer wrote that the question of whether it is necessary to deny communion to politicians who support abortion rights is a sensitive and complicated question. He closed his article by stating, “I regret the necessity of addressing these issues in so public a forum, but the widespread consternation among Catholics made it unavoidable.”