"The best month American pro-lifers have experienced in decades"

 It has taken a while, but finally the Excommunication of Nancy Pelosi has come to pass. We Anglicans have been wondering if and when a Roman Catholic Bishop would show some backbone when it comes to political figures who proclaim to be "devout  Catholics" while at the same time are accepting of, or are rabid promoters of unrestricted abortion. 

Well, the first blow has been struck by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the San Francisco archdiocese when he instructed that Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is to be denied communion. 

What took so long? Eric Sammons at Crisis Magazine tells it this way,  

"Last year San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a pastoral letter Before I Formed You in the Womb, I Knew You. In this letter the Archbishop laid out the reasons why a pro-abortion Catholic politician should be denied Communion, and the steps that should be taken for this to happen..."

(In the letter he wrote, "If you find that you are unwilling or unable to abandon your advocacy for abortion, you should not come forward to receive Holy Communion. To publicly affirm the Catholic faith while at the same time publicly rejecting one of its most fundamental teachings is simply dishonest.") - UGP

"The timing of the announcement—one year after his pastoral letter was released—makes me wonder if this was his plan all along. Publish the letter to make clear what steps would be taken, reach out to Pelosi for a year to see if there is any change of heart, and then, if no repentance is shown, announce the denial of Communion.

Cordileone has also made clear the steps Pelosi needs to take to return to Holy Communion:

'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 publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance.'

These are hard words, but they are words of a pastor. Forgiveness is not impossible; Nancy Pelosi is a child of God who can be reconciled to our loving Father. But first she must repent and confess her sins."

This action along with the leak of the potential ruling reversing Roe versus Wade may be as Eric Sammons says, 

"The best month American pro-lifers have experienced in decades."

 Several questions remain:

1. Will other Archbishops follow Cordileone's example with other politicians?
2. Will Nancy Pelosi be allowed to receive communion in another diocese?
3. Will any priest in the Archdiocese of San Francisco disobey the Archbishop?
4. And what about all those politicians who are not as vocal about their support of abortion but who clearly accept the party platform and vote accordingly?

The answer to #2 was provided by this report at Red State on  05/23/2022,

"The California Democrat attended mass on Sunday at Holy Trinity in Georgetown where she received Holy Communion, Politico Playbook reported. Pool reports show that President Joe Biden often attends evening masses at the parish as well.

It is not immediately clear which priest at Holy Trinity gave Pelosi communion.

None of the Jesuit priests on staff at Holy Trinity, described as 'a parish of the powerful,' responded to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.

The parish website advertises a June 15 'Pride Mass,' and highlights a video of a gay man, who says he is married to a man..."

Georgetown has at least one Bishop who is not shepherding his sheep properly.

 It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out. 

In the meantime we need to thank God for the good things he has provided this month and pray that we have more good months like May 2022.