San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is becoming a leading voice for life among the Catholic bishops in America.
On Thursday, he chided U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for bringing up her Catholic faith while defending her party’s plans to force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions, according to the Catholic News Agency.
“Let me repeat: No one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it,” the archbishop told CNA. Cordileone leads Pelosi’s home diocese.
“To use the smokescreen of abortion as an issue of health and fairness to poor women is the epitome of hypocrisy. What about the health of the baby being killed? What about giving poor women real choice, so they are supported in choosing life?” he continued.
Earlier Thursday, Pelosi insisted that she is a “devout Catholic” while defending Democrat lawmakers’ plan to get rid of the Hyde Amendment. The longstanding amendment prohibits taxpayer funding for elective abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs.
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When an EWTN reporter asked about the issue, Pelosi responded by claiming taxpayer-funded abortions are “an issue of health of many women in America,” Fox News reports. Then, she invoked her Catholic faith to defend her radical views.
“As a devout Catholic and mother of five in six years, I feel that God blessed my husband and me with our beautiful family – five children in six years almost to the day,” Pelosi said. “But that may not be what we should – and it’s not up to me to dictate that that’s what other people should do, and it’s an issue of fairness and justice for poorer women in our country.”
But a Harvard University poll found that lower-income Americans strongly support the Hyde Amendment — even more so than richer Americans. Other polls also have found strong public opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions.
Cordileone said pro-life advocates are the people who truly are serving poor women and their children.
“It is people of faith who run pro-life crisis pregnancy clinics; they are the only ones who provide poor women life-giving alternatives to having their babies killed in their wombs,” he told CNA. “I cannot be prouder of my fellow Catholics who are so prominent in providing this vital service. To them, I say: you are the ones worthy to call yourselves ‘devout Catholics’!”
Cordileone and other Catholic bishops are urging Christians to flood Congress with phone calls in opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also has a petition telling Congress to oppose taxpayer-funded abortions. Find it here.
“Your voice could save millions of lives,” the bishops said in a video message. “Don’t let our government force you to pay for the deaths of unborn children.”
Though Pelosi often mentions her Catholic faith, many of her public actions openly defy the teachings of Christianity and violate the consciences of those who truly follow it. Her effort to force taxpayers to fund abortions for the first time in more than 40 years is one example.
The Hyde Amendment is a long-standing, bipartisan measure that prohibits taxpayer funding for elective abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs. Pro-life researchers estimate it has saved at least 2.4 million babies from abortion, and polls consistently show that a strong majority of Americans support it.
For decades, the amendment had strong bipartisan support in Congress as an annual rider in the federal budget, but Democrat leaders recently switched their position on the issue. In January, Pelosi said ending the Hyde Amendment is “long overdue.”
