Nancy Pelosi and Pope Francis at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2021. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jun 29, 2022 / 05:00 am (CNA).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly received Holy Communion at a Mass with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday.
Pelosi was banned from receiving Holy Communion in her home diocese, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, in May.
San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said Pelosi should not be admitted to Communion, nor should she present herself to receive the Eucharist, until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion.
Pelosi, who is in Rome on a family vacation, attended Pope Francis’ Mass for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Cordileone said on May 20 that the step to bar Pelosi from Communion was “purely pastoral, not political” and came after Pelosi, D-Calif., who has described herself as a “devout Catholic,” repeatedly rebuffed his efforts to reach out to her to discuss her abortion advocacy.
Pope Francis met with Pelosi at the Vatican in October last year.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
A smiling Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter’s Square on April 13, 2025, in a surprise visit at the end of the outdoor Palm Sunday Mass. / Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Apr 13, 2025 / 10:50 am (CNA).
Marking another in a series of recent surprise public appearances, Pope Francis on Sunday briefly greeted thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Palm Sunday.
“Happy Palm Sunday and beginning of Holy Week!” the Holy Father said with some difficulty to the cheers of the large crowd that filled the square and spilled out along the Via della Conciliazione.
Unable to participate in the Palm Sunday Mass, the 88-year-old pontiff, still convalescing after a serious bout of double pneumonia that kept him hospitalized for 39 days, arrived in a wheelchair toward the end of the outdoor liturgy, smiling and without nasal tubes as he passed by clergy, religious men and women, and lay people standing near the altar.
Pope Francis offers a blessing to the gathered faithful from a ramp at St. Peter’s Basilica during Palm Sunday celebrations, April 13, 2025. The Holy Father made a brief appearance following the main liturgy presided over by Cardinal Sandri. Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren / EWTN News
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the Mass as the pope’s delegate and read the Holy Father’s written homily to crowds of people waving palms and olive branches under overcast skies.
In his prepared homily, the pope exhorted Christians to “experience the great miracle of mercy” by accompanying Jesus in his journey to the cross.
“Let us decide how we are meant to carry our own cross during this Holy Week: if not on our shoulders, in our hearts,” the pope shared. “And not only our cross, but also the cross of those who suffer all around us.”
Pope Francis’ homily focused on Simon of Cyrene who, in St. Luke’s gospel, “unexpectedly found himself caught up in a drama” of Christ’s crucifixion.
“As we make our own way towards Calvary, let us reflect for a moment on Simon’s actions, try to look into his heart, and follow in his footsteps at the side of Jesus,” the pope observed.
Religious sisters hold palm fronds and olive branches during Palm Sunday celebrations at St. Peter’s Square, April 13, 2025. The traditional symbols commemorate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem as crowds laid branches before him, marking the beginning of Holy Week. | Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren / EWTN News. Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren / EWTN News
Though the man from Cyrene did not take up Jesus’ cross and follow him out of “conviction” but, rather, of “coercion,” the Holy Father praised him for being present to help the suffering Jesus and, in an “unexpected and astonishing way,” becomes “part of the history of salvation.”
“Between him and Jesus, there is no dialogue; not a single word is spoken. Between him and Jesus, there is only the wood of the cross,” the pope wrote.
“When we think of what Simon did for Jesus, we should also think of what Jesus did for Simon — what he did for me, for you, for each of us: he redeemed the world,” he added.
Placing emphasis on Christ’s infinite love which, “in obedience to the Father,” bore the sins of all humanity, the pope highlighted that Christians believe in a God who “suffered with us and for us.”
“Let us remember that God has made this road a place of redemption, for he walked it himself, giving his life for us,” the pope urged.
Pope’ Angelus message
In his Palm Sunday Angelus address released by the Vatican, the Holy Father asked Christians to continue to pray for those who are suffering in the world because of war, poverty, and disasters.
“The 15th of April will mark the second sad anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, in which thousands have been killed and millions of families have been forced to flee their homes,” he said in his message.
“The suffering of children, women and vulnerable people cries out to heaven and begs us to act,” he added.
On Friday, Sudanese paramilitaries killed the entire nine-member staff of the last medical clinic in a refugee camp in the western region of Darfur, Sudan, according to a report in the New York Times, citing aid groups and the United Nations. In all, at least 100 people were killed in an assault on the camp, which is populated by a half-million people displaced by the country’s civil war, the report said.
Noting other ongoing civil wars affecting populations in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, the pope asked people to pray for peace in Congo, South Sudan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Myanmar.
In his address, the Holy Father also asked people to remember the victims and families of the Santo Domingo disaster, in the Dominican Republic, which killed more than 200 people after a nightclub roof collapsed on April 8.
“May Mary, Mother of Sorrows, obtain this grace for us and help us to live this Holy Week with faith,” Pope Francis said.
Road workers close the access to the 101 Freeway at Olive Mill Road as a result of San Ysidro Creek overflowing due to heavy rainfall in the area on Jan. 9, 2023, in Montecito, California. The town was ordered evacuated on Monday with firefighte… […]
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 7, 2022 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
The U.S. Catholic bishops are confirming their support for the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) amid concerns that the proposed legislation could … […]
7 Comments
“Reportedly”? If true, then we might be reminded of the communal kiss of Judas and, then later on the road to Calvary, the smiley folks at the periphery who refrained from calling for blood, but who also discretely remained silent. The lukewarm and useless.
One possibly rational explanation for the reported event might be what has traditionally been understood as “invincible ignorance.” Is Pelosi a cretin and totally beyond reach in dealing with elementary moral contradictions, and so defective as to be possibly not morally responsible?
Or, perhaps this reported event is a synodally inclusive symbol to the effect that the Eucharist is so fluidly universal that it even includes unrepentant Aztec practitioners (in addition to Pachamama).
But, then, there’s the scandal thing and the warning from Christ (!) about the millstone…
Sorry, there is only one way to interpret these (repeated) gestures, but the usual spinmeisters will quickly show up to explain it all away for us. Thank goodness we have Catholic (or at least papal) apologists to prevent us from sinning by drawing some obvious conclusions! When Francis compares abortion to hiring a hitman to solve a problem, it is not at all apparent to me that he means to condemn the practice.
As to general attempts to explain away this new stunt by Pontiff Francis, I offer the suggestion that while Jesus called his followers his sheep, he didn’t call us to act like cattle.
St. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians that “whoever…eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.”
‘ Dickson recalled to LifeSiteNews how at one point during the Amarillo hearings, interestingly, the Lilith Fund attorney clarified to the judge that their lawsuit did not take issue with a reference by Dickson to Lilith, the mythological figure for which the group is named, as “a demon that preys on women and children.”
“I thought that was kind of funny because Lilith is a demon that preys on women and children,” Dickson told LifeSiteNews, adding that he sees the fund as just that. He pointed to his 2019 comment, “Perhaps they have a desire to live up to their name.”
‘
“Reportedly”? If true, then we might be reminded of the communal kiss of Judas and, then later on the road to Calvary, the smiley folks at the periphery who refrained from calling for blood, but who also discretely remained silent. The lukewarm and useless.
One possibly rational explanation for the reported event might be what has traditionally been understood as “invincible ignorance.” Is Pelosi a cretin and totally beyond reach in dealing with elementary moral contradictions, and so defective as to be possibly not morally responsible?
Or, perhaps this reported event is a synodally inclusive symbol to the effect that the Eucharist is so fluidly universal that it even includes unrepentant Aztec practitioners (in addition to Pachamama).
But, then, there’s the scandal thing and the warning from Christ (!) about the millstone…
In a more complete report, we find that Communion was distributed by priests who likely would not even recognize Pelosi.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGpGdnzggzkHwVhNcJfsnLZCDWS
As to that particular explanation, prudence might counsel that it strains credulity.
Sorry, there is only one way to interpret these (repeated) gestures, but the usual spinmeisters will quickly show up to explain it all away for us. Thank goodness we have Catholic (or at least papal) apologists to prevent us from sinning by drawing some obvious conclusions! When Francis compares abortion to hiring a hitman to solve a problem, it is not at all apparent to me that he means to condemn the practice.
As to general attempts to explain away this new stunt by Pontiff Francis, I offer the suggestion that while Jesus called his followers his sheep, he didn’t call us to act like cattle.
St. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians that “whoever…eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.”
‘ Dickson recalled to LifeSiteNews how at one point during the Amarillo hearings, interestingly, the Lilith Fund attorney clarified to the judge that their lawsuit did not take issue with a reference by Dickson to Lilith, the mythological figure for which the group is named, as “a demon that preys on women and children.”
“I thought that was kind of funny because Lilith is a demon that preys on women and children,” Dickson told LifeSiteNews, adding that he sees the fund as just that. He pointed to his 2019 comment, “Perhaps they have a desire to live up to their name.”
‘
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-activist-sued-for-calling-abortion-murder-takes-case-to-texas-supreme-court/