Amid the growing calls among conservative Catholics to deny President Joe Biden Communion, San Francisco's Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has released a new letter calling for public figures who support abortion to be barred from the sacrament.
"Because we are dealing with public figures and public examples of cooperation in moral evil, this correction can also take the public form of exclusion from the reception of Holy Communion," writes Cordileone.
"Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You: A Pastoral Letter on the Human Dignity of the Unborn, Holy Communion, and Catholics in Public Life" was released May 1 ahead of the U.S. bishops' June meeting, when they are expected to discuss the issue.
The debate over Biden, the nation's second Catholic president, and his support for legal abortion has continued to mount since his election. Last November, the U.S. bishops formed a controversial working group to discuss the matter, which included plans to draft a document on the reception of Communion. The group was later disbanded with plans for the Communion document taken up by the U.S. bishops' doctrine committee.
One of the most notable Catholics in the San Francisco Archdiocese is Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whom Cordileone has previously criticized on the issue of abortion. Although he has not previously called for her to be denied Communion, he has said Catholics should recover the "idea of worthiness to receive Communion."
Cordileone's 17-page letter is organized in four sections: a discussion on the science behind conception and the medical realities of abortion; a philosophical and theological reflection on formal cooperation with evil; an examination of questions surrounding the reception of Communion; and a final section on Catholics in public life.
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