Archbishop Paul Stagg Coakley, elected this week as the new president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has steadfastly maintained that pro-abortion lawmakers should not receive Holy Communion.
That includes former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., LifeNews reported Wednesday.
Coakley, archbishop of Oklahoma City, was elected Tuesday and will serve a three-year term as president of the USCCB. He has established a long-standing record of supporting the denial of Communion to certain politicians, a stance he has held for more than a decade.
Most recently, in 2022, Coakley voiced support for Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone of San Francisco, who announced he would withhold Communion from Pelosi after she backed Democrats in repeatedly blocking a vote on a bill aimed at stopping infanticide.
“I applaud the courage of Archbishop Cordileone and his leadership in taking this difficult step. Let us continue to pray for Cordileone, priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Speaker Pelosi, for the protection of the unborn, and for the conversion of hearts and minds,” Coakley said then.
It’s a position he voiced support for as far back as 2014.
“I think we have an obligation as bishops, as pastors, to try to work with them to bring them to a change of heart and refusing them Communion would be, not the first, but more than likely, the last stage in a [series] of steps,” he told LifeSiteNews.
Pelosi has repeatedly called herself a “devout” Roman Catholic, often citing her pro-life Catholic upbringing and family life.
She maintains that her faith guides her personally, while defending pro-choice positions politically — an ongoing point of tension with Catholic leaders who argue her public stance contradicts church teaching.
The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Scorecard gives her an “F” rating for abortion-rights votes in the 118th Congress, meaning she opposed bills restricting abortion.
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