Controversy in the Vatican: Pope Francis allowed Nancy Pelosi to receive communion despite her support for abortion and affirmed that “there is room for everyone”

The dispute between conservatives and progressives of the Catholic Church added a new episode this Wednesday, after Pope Francis communion allowed the president of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in spite of himself support for the right to abortion.

Pelosi attended the morning mass for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, during which the pontiff imposed the stole on the newly consecrated archbishops. Democratic politics sat in a section reserved for diplomats and he received communion with the rest of the faithfulaccording to two people who attended at the time.

During the mass, and as if to anticipate the controversy that was coming, the pontiff stated that in the church “there is room for everyone” but he lamented the “many internal resistances” and the laziness that prevented him from “going forward”.

“Let’s not forget this word, everyone, go to the square and take everyone. Blind, deaf, lame, sick, righteous, sinful, all, all. This word of the Lord must resound in the minds and hearts of all In the church there is a place for everyone “, he defended.

“Many times we are a church with open doors, but firing and convicting people“, to complete.

It should be remembered that Pelosi cannot receive communion in his archdiocese. Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, he said he would not allow him to receive the sacrament there for his support for the right to abortion. The conservative nun has indicated that Pelosi must retract her support for abortion, otherwise stop talking about your Catholic faith in public.

Nancy Pelosi, Catholic and in favor of the legalization of abortion

Pelosi did neither. He called the recent Supreme Court decision lifting the constitutional protection of abortion “outrageous and heartbreaking” which satisfies “the obscure and extremist goal (of the Republican Party) of depriving women of the right to make decisions about their reproductive health.”

And he spoke openly about his faith, including during a reception at the US ambassador’s residence to the Holy See on Tuesday evening for Independence Day.

In a speech before ambassadors, Vatican officials and other Americans residing in Rome, Pelosi spoke of the Catholic virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the important role they play in the US diplomatic mission.

“Faith is an important gift, not everyone has it, but it is the way to many other things,” he said.

Hairy he met Francesco on Wednesday before mass and received a blessing, according to one of those present at the Eucharist.

Although the pope presided over the mass, he did not distribute communion, so Pelosi received the sacrament from one of the many priests in charge of the assignment. From his time as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis has rarely dispensed communion avoid turning the moment into a political act.

President Joe Biden, another Catholic who supports the right to abortion, told about it after an audience with Francis last year. the pontiff told him to continue receiving the sacrament. Biden later received communion during a mass in a Rome church that falls under the authority of the pope, who also serves as the bishop of Rome.

Even more significant is Pelosi’s participation in communion within a papal mass in the Vatican, ea a sign of Francis’ reluctance to deny the sacrament. The pope described the Eucharist “not as a reward for the perfect, but as powerful medicine and food for the weak”.

Source: AP and EFE