“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg is taking issue with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone for barring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) from receiving communion in her home diocese.
On Monday, Goldberg said, “The abortion rights battle is starting to blur the lines between church and state.”
“The archbishop of San Francisco is calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to be denied receiving Communion because of her pro-choice stance,” she continued. “He’s one of the priests who also called for President Biden to be denied Sacrament.”
She added, “This is not your job, dude. That is not up to you to make that decision. What is the saying…It’s the reward of saints but the bread of sinners. How dare you? How dare you?”
Watch the video below:
Whoopi: "The archbishop of San Francisco is calling for speaker Nancy Pelosi to be denied receiving Communion because of her pro-choice stance … this is not your job, dude. That is not up to you to make that decision." pic.twitter.com/TCSe0t6XLY
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) May 23, 2022
Check out some of the reactions below:
😂
— Rachel Campos-Duffy (@RCamposDuffy) May 23, 2022
It is PRECISELY his job, (dude)!
If you know nothing about the Catholic Church & faith, you should stay quiet & stay out of it! https://t.co/9PhekhgsWG
Actually @WhoopiGoldberg, it IS his job. You can disagree with his decision, you can think it’s wrong, petty and stupid, you can disagree with the Church’s stance on abortion, but it is his decision to make. https://t.co/Fb2YwG78hx
— Social Contract with Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) May 23, 2022
this is literally his most important job https://t.co/RLtEMPDkCW
— Emily Zanotti 🦝 (@emzanotti) May 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/ellencarmichael/status/1528773296933814274
For those unfamiliar with the Catholic Church, it very much is his job and up to him to make that decision. https://t.co/1RV6XyPDni
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) May 23, 2022
In a letter to Pelosi last week, Cordileone wrote, “A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ‘are not to be admitted to Holy Communion’ (Code of Canon Law, can. 915).”
He explained, “I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publically repudiate your advocacy for abortion ‘rights’ or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion. I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.
“As you have not publically repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come,” he continued.
The archbishop went on:
“Therefore, in light of my responsibility as the Archbishop of San Francisco to be ‘concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care’ (Code of Canon Law, can. 383, §1), by means of this communication 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, until such time as you publically repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance.”
Pelosi has described herself as a devout Catholic. However, she has voice support for abortion access.
Last year, Pope Francis reiterated the Catholic Church’s view that “abortion is murder,” according to the Catholic News Agency.