Support mounts among US bishops barring Pelosi from receiving Communion

Support to bar House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion is mounting among Roman Catholic U.S. bishops who are condemning her support of abortion as a moral evil. 

"The church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave evil, and that public advocacy for — and support of — abortion is, objectively speaking, such a manifest grave sin," Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample said Friday on Facebook. 

"What Archbishop Cordileone did was actually an act of pastoral love and care for Speaker Pelosi and for all those entrusted to his pastoral care, who might have been led astray by her public support of the evil of abortion," Sample said. "That’s why what Archbishop Cordileone did was the right thing."

Earlier this month, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced Pelosi was barred from receiving Communion at the diocese where she resides in California.