“I am therefore inviting all Catholics to join in a massive and visible campaign of prayer and fasting for Speaker Pelosi: commit to praying one rosary a week and fasting on Fridays for her conversion of heart.”
Cordileone urged Catholics and people of goodwill to sign up for the “Rose and a rosary for Nancy Pelosi” campaign.
A rose will be sent to the Speaker “as a symbol of your prayer and fasting for her,” he explained.
In May, Pelosi said that she was “pleased” with a Vatican letter to the U.S. bishops which addressed Communion for pro-abortion politicians. She claimed that the Vatican had instructed the bishops not to be “divisive” on the issue.
In response, Cordileone said the Vatican was in fact promoting “dialogue” between bishops and pro-abortion politicians, “to help them understand the grave evil they are helping to perpetrate and accompany them to a change of heart.”
“I’m happy to know that Speaker Pelosi said she is pleased with the letter,” the archbishop said.
“Speaker Pelosi’s positive reaction” to the letter, he noted, “raises hope that progress can be made in this most serious matter.”
In July, Cordileone criticized Pelosi after she cited her Catholic faith while defending efforts to permit federal funding of elective abortions.
“Let me repeat: no one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it,” he said.
Cardinal Turkson was drawn this week into the debate over whether Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, should be denied Communion over his support for abortion.
In an interview with Axios on HBO, the Ghanaian cardinal said: “If you say somebody cannot receive Communion, you are basically doing a judgment that you are in a state of sin.”
(Story continues below)
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“It sounds like you don’t think that should happen in the case of President Biden,” said the interviewer.
“No,” Turkson replied. “You know, if, you know, a priest who’s distributing Communion sees -- unexpected all of a sudden somebody he knows to have committed murder, he’s meant to protect their dignity and the respect of that person.”
“So it’s for extreme cases?” the interviewer suggested.
“Yeah. Those, for extreme cases, OK?” Turkson commented.
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