Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, reflects on San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s decision to bar House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving communion. Because of her unrepentant support for legalized abortion on demand, the archbishop felt it necessary to do so for her personal protection — those who receive Christ’s body and blood unworthily eat and drink judgment to themselves (see 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, especially v. 29). Moreover, the eucharist is also an expression of the unity of the church. As such, Pope Francis, just last year, said that a pro-abortion politician “cannot take communion, because they are out of the community.” For his part, the archbishop in effect said that when practicing Catholics spurn moral reality in political discourse, souls and lives hang in the balance. And when souls hang in the balance, priests and bishops have an obligation to act. Pelosi, who says that she has studied this issue as an ardent practicing Catholic for a long time, would know full well what the Church’s historic stance on abortion is.

For further study, see “What Is Abortion?” https://www.equip.org/bible_answers/what-is-abortion-2/ and “Annihilating Abortion Arguments,” https://www.equip.org/PDF/DA375.pdf.