How's that assigning a Republican Christofascist bishop to the diocese of liberal San Francisco working out for you, Catholic Church?
Defying Pope Francis, San Francisco’s Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Friday announced that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) may no longer receive the sacrament of Communion because of her position supporting abortion rights.
In a public statement to Pelosi, Cordileone said because the lawmaker hadn’t “repudiated your position on abortion ... 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.”
The ban will remain in place “until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion, and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance,” added Cordileone, one of the nation’s most conservative Catholic leaders.
Take that, Pope Francis, er, Nancy Pelosi!
But, of course, this wasn't a political move by the archbishop, because Cordileone wouldn't dabble in politics, as Steve M. points out:
Cordileone is a full-service right-winger. In 2008, when he was the auxiliary bishop of San Diego, he helped draft and raise funds for California's Proposition 8, which amended the state's constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Four years later (and just after a DUI), Cordileone barred an Episcopal bishop who had opposed Prop 8 from his installation as archbishop.
In 2018, Cordileone defended Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the highest-profile antagonist of Pope Francis, when he called on the pope to resign.
In 2020, Cordileone began railing against COVID health restrictions on indoor worship; a church in his archdiocese that conducted an indoor wedding in violation of the restrictions became the center of an outbreak. (Late last year, Cordileone announced that he's not vaccinated.)
And in 2020, Cordileone performed the rite of exorcism in response to the removal of statues of Junípero Serra, the Franciscan missionary, who was guilty of brutal treatment of Natives in California.
A bigot, a COVID denier, and a believer in crackpottery. So, he checks all the boxes for a pure MAGA Republican Christofacist.
By the way, he might want to start trying to deny communion to the 55 percent of Catholics who want Roe v. Wade upheld.
(Photo: Cordileone -- all miter, no communion)
