Pelosi, the Eucharist, and the American Catholic Divide

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi caused controversy in the Roman Catholic world on June 29 after she received Communion at a papal Mass in Rome where Pope Francis was present. Reuters reported that Pelosi met with the Roman Pontiff before the Mass began.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone earlier barred Pelosi from receiving Communion in his diocese, writing her with instruction to either renounce her pro-abortion views or to cease referencing her Catholic faith.

According to witnesses, Pelosi did not receive the Eucharist directly from the Pope, but rather from one of the priests in the basilica. It is unclear if Francis knew that Pelosi was in the church.

Many factors complicate this incident and its meaning for American Catholics:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear on the matter in three ways:

1. Life is sacred from the moment of conception: “From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”
2. The act of abortion is a grave offense to the moral law. This not only applies to people but to society at large. Anyone who performs an abortion is thereby excommunicated automatically: “Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. ‘A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,’ ‘by the very commission of the offense’, and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law”. 
3. Because these truths are recognized to be of divine origin from the Word of God and Tradition, the Church cannot change these teachings. Denial of these truths is considered an act of heresy according to the Catechism. This also causes one to be automatically excommunicated and thereby no longer in the Church of Rome. 

In other words, you cannot call yourself a Roman Catholic and deny these statements. This means that, for example, the Roman Catholics mentioned by a Pew Research Poll who believe abortion should be legal – the majority of American Catholics – are not in the Church since they are guilty of these errors. Nor can Roman Catholic politicians use the line of being personally opposed to abortion, but not wanting to “impose their beliefs” on others. The civil government has a duty to protect innocent life in all states, from the elderly in nursing homes to the tiniest embryos. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has also detailed here why these teachings are unchangeable and their support from Scripture, Tradition, and theologians from the time of the Apostles until now.

Both secular and Protestant media tend to view the Roman Catholic Church with American tinted glasses. Because the Church considers her teachings, dogmatic statements and ecumenical councils to be infallible, those who dissent from these teachings are in grave error and have put their salvation at risk. Protestant churches don’t have this teaching, which is why it is common for more denominations to form if people disagree with their ecclesiastical communities. In other words, there is no such thing as “liberal Catholics” or “conservatives Catholics”; there are Catholics who uphold Church doctrine, and heretics who dissent. Just because American Catholics disagree with the Church doesn’t mean the Church will change; these teachings cannot change, and divine truth is not dictated by popular vote.

All of this is why Francis’ actions related to abortion and the Eucharist are so confusing. Francis has strongly condemned abortion on multiple occasions, comparing procuring an abortion to hiring a hitman and called it “daily murder”. But as Crux’s recent report  pointed out, Pope Francis has also stated that he has never denied anyone communion, and the Vatican has warned that denying people the Eucharist on such grounds could cause unhealthy division.

There is a tension in this stance. The Catechism’s teaching on receiving Communion is that Catholics must be free from mortal sin to receive. Heresy, deliberate denial of Church teaching, and committing the act of abortion itself are considered mortal sins. How can one then receive Communion properly while knowingly being in a state of mortal sin?

The effects of Francis’ ambiguity and inaction are visible. Roman Catholic bishops in Germany have waged outright rebellion against Rome in the areas of sexual morality, threatening a schism within the Church. My fear is that the same will happen in America should the Vatican refuse to correct the flock’s errors.The Roman Pontiff must publicly address the faithful of America and remind them that the truth is not changed by polling data. Rather, it comes from God, eternally binding and suitable for the human race for all time. To deny this is to not only deny Christ, but also to deny our very purpose and existence.