By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, May 27, 2022
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org.
Canon lawyers disagree on whether Church law requires other bishops to honor Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s “Notification” barring Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Communion. But the logic of the matter is unavoidable. Other prelates—most notably Washington’s Cardinal Wilton Gregory—cannot ignore the challenge.
The Washington archdiocese, in its first effort to avoid the question, issued an official statement: “The actions of Archbishop Cordileone are his decision to make in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.” While certainly true in itself—Archbishop Cordileone does indeed make the decisions in the San Francisco archdiocese—that statement subtly implies that the decisions are not binding elsewhere. Thus the statement continues: “Cardinal Gregory has not instructed the priests of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington to refuse Communion to anyone.” …
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