COMMENTARY: Catholic Church Must Reprimand Speaker Pelosi for Her Support of Abortion

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, holds the highest political position of any woman in the United States. Her position entitles her to be President of the United States, if President Obama and Vice President Biden were to die.

Pelosi, 70, is also a Roman Catholic, but one would never know it by her actions in the U.S. House of Representatives. Her voting record shows that she strongly supports abortion. In addition to approving the killing of unborn babies, Pelosi also has voted to take money from American taxpayers to pay for abortions -- both in the United States and abroad.

The Catholic Church emphatically forbids abortion, but it has taken no action against Pelosi for her defiance of Catholic doctrine. When Pelosi had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI last year, the Pope told her that -- as a true Catholic Christian -- she must be opposed to abortion. Unfortunately, the Pope's advice went in one of Pelosi's ears, and out the other, as she has stubbornly refused to change her abortion stance.

It is now time for the Catholic Church to take action against Pelosi. Archbishop Donald Wuerl, whose Catholic Diocese includes Washington, D.C., has the responsibility to tell Pelosi that she cannot receive Holy Communion -- and perhaps even have her excommunicated -- for her defiance of Catholic Christian doctrine.

A few months ago, Bishop Thomas Tobin, whose Catholic Diocese includes Rhode Island, told U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island that he must abstain from receiving Holy Communion, because of his support of abortion.

Archbishop Wuerl now must take similar action against Pelosi, who holds the highest position in the House of Representatives, as its Speaker. Failure by Archbishop Wuerl to take action against Pelosi for her betrayal of the Catholic faith will make a mockery of Catholicism, because it will clearly illustrate that the Catholic Church is not serious in upholding its doctrine, and that it is all right for Catholics to take a stance that is clearly contrary to the teachings of Christ.