Pelosi jokes that the Catholic Church 'would like to throw me out' over pro-choice views

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) joked that the Catholic Church would "like to throw me out" due to her support of abortion rights during an event at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library Tuesday night, The Daily Wire reports.

"It isn't about 'What is your religious belief?' It's 'What is the right of people to make their own decisions about the sizing and time — or if — they're going to have a family," Pelosi said, her hands visibly shaking. "This really gets me burned up — in case you didn't notice — because, again, I'm very Catholic. Devout, practicing, all of that."

"They would like to throw me out, but I'm not going, because I don't want to make their day," she added, drawing laughter from the audience.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In 2006, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a document, which declares that "[i]f a Catholic in his or her personal or professional life were knowingly and obstinately to reject the defined doctrines of the Church, or knowingly and obstinately to repudiate her definitive teaching on moral issues ... he or she should refrain" from receiving the Eucharist.

Pelosi said in 2018 that "Communion has not been withheld" from her, but that if it were, it would be "a severe blow to me," according to The Daily Wire.