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CNN anchor rushes to defend Nancy Pelosi after she is denied Holy Communion. But Pope Francis says not so fast.
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CNN anchor rushes to defend Nancy Pelosi after she is denied Holy Communion. But Pope Francis says not so fast.

CNN anchor Jim Sciutto rushed to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday after San Fransisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone barred her from receiving Holy Communion.

Even worse, Sciutto claimed Pope Francis does not support banning pro-abortion politicians from receiving the sacrament — which is not true.

What is the background?

Cordileone announced on Friday that Pelosi has been barred from receiving Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Cordileone cited Pelosi's increasingly "extreme" position on abortion.

"Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months," Cordileone explained in a "letter to the faithful."

"Just earlier this month she once again, as she has many times before, explicitly cited her Catholic faith while justifying abortion as a 'choice,' this time setting herself in direct opposition to Pope Francis," he added.

What did Sciutto say?

Scuitto claimed Cordileone's decision is evidence of a "deep fissure" in the Catholic Church, adding that Pope Francis does not support barring pro-abortion politicians from participating in Holy Communion.

"12 years of Catholic school, altar boy, family deeply involved in our church, and never saw anyone banned from receiving communion," Scuitto said. "This is a deep fissure in the church — and a position Pope Francis himself doesn’t support."

But what has Francis said?

Pope Francis directly addressed this issue last September, definitively saying that participation in Holy Communion is reserved for church members "in the community." But politicians who support abortion, he said, are "outside of the community."

Francis described communion as "not a prize for the perfect," but he called it a "gift, the presence of Jesus in his Church, and in the community."

"This is the theology," Francis said. "Then, those who are not in the community, cannot receive communion. ... Out of the community: Excommunicated, it’s a harsh word, but they don’t belong in the community, because they were not baptized, or because they are estranged from it."

"Those people who are not in the community cannot take communion, because they are out of the community," he explained. "It is not a punishment: Communion is linked to the community."

Francis also addressed abortion in the same interview — and he did not mince words.

Francis called abortion "more than a problem: It’s a homicide. No middle terms. Whomever does an abortion, kills," adding that an unborn child is a "human life" and a "person" who must be "respected."

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