Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco is Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s bishop. Cordileone and Pelosi are both Catholic. And that’s about where their similarities end.
Pelosi, a committed Democrat, lamented that the support of pro-life voters for former President Donald Trump was an issue that "gives me great grief as a Catholic." Pelosi made the comment on a Jan. 18 podcast with former senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
"I think that Donald Trump is president because of the issue of a woman's right to choose," said Pelosi, implying that pro-life voters boosted Trump to victory in 2016. She added that these voters "were willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue."
Cordileone rebuked Pelosi in a statement issued days later, saying, "No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion” and that "Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop," he said.
The archbishop also promoted a “Rose and a Rosary for Nancy Pelosi” campaign, which saw more than 16,000 people commit to praying for Pelosi’s change of heart on life issues.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas wrapped up a three-year stint as the head of the USCCB’s pro-life committee in 2021. The outspoken defender of life unleashed on Biden in a Feb. 13 interview with Catholic World Report.
"The president should stop defining himself as a devout Catholic, and acknowledge that his view on abortion is contrary to Catholic moral teaching. It would be a more honest approach from him to say he disagreed with his Church on this important issue and that he was acting contrary to Church teaching," said Naumann.
"When he says he is a devout Catholic, we bishops have the responsibility to correct him. Although people have given this president power and authority, he cannot define what it is to be a Catholic and what Catholic moral teaching is," the archbishop added. He further called for the bishops to “correct” the president, “as the president is acting contrary to the Catholic faith.”
Sr. Lucile Andre Randon
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The coronavirus pandemic continued throughout the world in 2021, killing hundreds of thousands of people. One person who beat it, however, was the world’s second-oldest person: a French nun named Sr. Lucile Andre Randon.
Right before Randon’s 117th birthday, coronavirus swept through the Sainte Catherine Labouré retirement home in Toulon, southern France. Eighty-one of the 88 residents of the facility tested positive in January of this year, and 10 died.
Fortunately, Randon did not display any symptoms of the disease and recovered in time to celebrate her birthday on Feb. 11.
Asked if she was scared of COVID, she told France's BFM television, “No, I wasn't scared because I wasn't scared to die... I'm happy to be with you, but I would wish to be somewhere else – join my big brother and my grandfather and my grandmother.”
Hidilyn Diaz
The covid-postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics finally were staged in the Summer of 2021, and Catholic athletes shined on the world stage.