Nancy Pelosi, the prominent Catholic politician and US House
of Representatives Minority Leader, in a much publicized lobbying effort
attempted along with other local political figures, to pressure San Francisco
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to change his mind about participating in an upcoming event in
support of marriage, the National Organization for Marriage's June 19 march to
the Supreme Court in Washington DC, which Pelosi denigrated by describing it as
"venom masquerading as virtue." See reports by the San FranciscoChronicle and Catholic World Report.
Archbishop Cordileone (whose name can be translated as ‘Lionheart’) said in a letter that his duty is “to proclaim the truth—the whole truth—about the human person and God’s will for our flourishing. I must do that in season and out of season, even when truths that it is my duty to uphold and teach are unpopular, including especially the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife. That is what I will be doing on June 19th.”
He also said that the March for Marriage is “not anti-anyone
or anti-anything. Rather, it is a pro-marriage March. … Rather, it affirms the
great good of bringing the two halves of humanity together so that a man and a
woman may bond with each other and with any children who come from their
union.”
Meanwhile the President of the Catholic League Bill Donovan described Pelosi’s attempt to bully Archbishop Cordileone as, “unmitigated arrogance,”
According to Donovan, “Rep. Nancy Pelosi does not simply
reject the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage, abortion, and contraception—she
is a rabid foe of the Church’s positions.”
