Salvatore Cordileone, San Francisco's archbishop, shared his message to Catholics such as President Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi on Sunday: It is impossible to be a good Catholic while supporting expanding the government-approved right of innocent human beings to die.
Cordileones comment was made in an essay for Washington Post just days after Texas' new law prohibiting abortions after a fetal beat can be detected became effective. Biden and Pelosi issued statements last week criticizing the Supreme Court's 54-year-old refusal to challenge the law.
Both Democrats and Catholics are both; Pelosi, one of San Francisco's most revered parishioners, is a Catholic.
Cordileone, Sunday's Sunday post, spoke out about the Catholics obligation to challenge Catholic politicians that support abortion.
Cordileone wrote that we caused a stir by discussing whether public officials supporting abortion should be able to receive the Eucharist this summer. We were accused of inadvertently injecting religion into politics and of putting our faith where it wasn't needed.
He said that he sees things differently. To help me think about the duties Catholic bishops should have in relation to prominent laymen who are openly against church teachings on abortion, I turn to my last great human rights movement for inspiration.
Cordileone recalled how Joseph Rummel, a former New Orleans archbishop, admitted black seminary students and ordered the end of segregation in the archdiocese. He also ordered the removal of all colored signs from New Orleans churches. Rummel also closed down a church for refusing to accept a black priest, and excommunicated many people who support segregation.
Cordileone stated that Rummel didn't stay in his own lane. He was not like other bishops in this country's history. He did not place the happiness of parishioners above advancing racial justice. He instead began a patient, long-term campaign of moral persuasion to change opinions of anti-segregation White Catholics.
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He points out that Rummel's excommunication of segregationists wasn't wrong or an example weaponizing the Eucharist, because Rummel knew that prominent, high-profile public advocacy of racism was scandalous. It violated core Catholic teachings, basic principles of justice and led to others sin.
Cordileone stated that abortion is a terrible, unreplaceable act of violence and that anyone who promotes, funds or presents abortion as a valid choice is guilty of a grave moral sin.
He said that the solution to crisis pregnancies does not involve violence, but love for mother and child. A pastor would not find it inappropriate to speak this way. The response of Catholic political leaders to Texas's situation highlights the need to shout it louder.
Cordileones essay is months after the archbishop stated that priests should not give communion to pro-abortion Catholic public officials who are unable or unwilling to abandon their advocacy of abortion.
The archbishop advised Catholic public figures that if you feel unable or unwilling to give up your support for abortion, you shouldn't come forward to receive Holy Communion. It is dishonest to publicly affirm Catholicism while simultaneously rejecting one its most fundamental teachings.
Cordileone stated that if their pastors fail to address their involvement in the evil abortion, it can lead Catholics (and other Catholics) to believe that the Catholic Church's moral teaching on the inviolate sanctity and life of human beings is not being seriously taught. The Catholic Church's constant teaching, including the exhortations from every Pope since her inception, and the frequent statements made by bishops in the United States all clearly state the Catholic Church's position on abortion.
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