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Pope Refuses Promotion to San Francisco Archbishop that Denied Pelosi Communion: Elevates Lower-Ranked SD Bishop to Cardinal

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Pope Francis, the Jesuit Pope from the rebellious order, has once again made a strong statement regarding headline seeking conservative U.S. Catholic Bishops in passing over promoting the Archbishop of the San Francisco diocese, Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone who recently made headlines by publicly announcing that he would be denying Speaker Nancy Pelosi the Eucharist as punishment for her support of abortion rights.

Instead, according to the Los Angeles Times, Pope Francis chose the lower-ranking Bishop Robert McElroy from San Diego, a man who opposes the idea of “weaponizing” the Eucharist:

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, one of Pope Francis’ ideological allies who has often sparred with more conservative U.S. bishops, was named by the pope on Sunday as one of 21 new cardinals.

Among his notable stances, McElroy, 68, has been one of a minority of U.S. bishops harshly criticizing the campaign to exclude Catholic politicians who support abortion rights from Communion. “It will bring tremendously destructive consequences,” McElroy wrote in May 2021. “The Eucharist is being weaponized and deployed as a tool in political warfare. This must not happen.”

In selecting McElroy, Francis passed over the higher-ranking archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone. Earlier this month, Cordileone said he would no longer allow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to receive Communion because of her support for abortion rights.

It is very hard to misread the message. Pope Francis has spent most of his time as pope focused on the poor and marginalized. Indeed, of the 21 promotions to the College of Cardinals, McElroy was the only American. Most of Pope Francis’s newly announced Cardinals are from Africa and Asia.

American bishops would do well to take notice.

Many on Twitter were thrilled with the decision:

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman

Jason Miciak
meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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