Pelosi hits back at San Francisco archbishop for banning her from Communion over pro-choice stance

A “prayerful” Nancy Pelosi Tuesday hit back at the Catholic archbishop who banned her from receiving Holy Communion over her pro-choice stance.

The powerful House speaker said the archbishop of her hometown of San Francisco has no business imposing his conservative views on her or the nation’s tens of millions of Catholics.

“We just have to be prayerful, we have to be respectful,” Pelosi said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show. “I come from a largely pro-life Italian-American Catholic family, so I respect people’s views about that. But I don’t respect us foisting it onto others.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) (Kevin Dietsch/)

Pelosi also took a swipe at the Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone for taking action over her views on abortion while failing to punish right-wing political leaders who support the death penalty.

“I wonder about the death penalty, which I am opposed to,” Pelosi said. “So is the church, but they take no action against people who may not share their view.”

Pelosi, who unapologetically supports abortion rights like most Democrats, has long been criticized by Cordileone, one of the nation’s most conservative senior Catholic members of the clergy.

The archbishop upped the ante in the feud last week by formally barring priests in San Francisco from giving Holy Communion to Pelosi, a serious blow to a leader who often discusses her faith in public.

President Biden has also been denied Communion at least twice over his pro-choice stand. But Catholic bishops avoided an open confrontation with him by allowing local authorities to decide what to do about the hot button issue.

Although the church is steadfastly opposed to abortion rights, its flock is divided, with polls showing that most Catholics support a woman’s right to choose.

Along with what she portrays as the church’s hypocritical refusal to act about the death penalty, Pelosi pointed out that Cordileone has also spoken out against gay rights.

“Our archbishop has been vehemently against LGBTQ rights, too,” she said. “This decision ... is very dangerous in the lives of so many of the American people.”