Catholic California university to host Nancy Pelosi as commencement speaker despite abortion stance
A Catholic university in California will be hosting former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., despite her outspoken support for abortion, which is against Catholic teaching.
"We are deeply honored to welcome Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi to Notre Dame de Namur University," Dr. Beth Martin, president of Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, California, said in a statement announcing Pelosi.
"Her lifelong commitment to public service, leadership, and advocacy for justice reflects the very values that define an NDNU education and the enduring legacy of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur," Martin said. "During this 175th anniversary year of the Sisters in California, her presence powerfully affirms the impact of faith-inspired education on the world."
According to its website, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are an international apostolic congregation of Catholic sisters, founded in 1804 by St. Julie Billiart in Amiens, France, serving today in 16 countries on five continents.
Their mission is to "make known God's goodness, especially among the most impoverished and abandoned people in the world," according to the group’s website.
Pelosi, who has called opposing abortion "sinful," will speak at the university’s commencement ceremony on May 2.
In 2023, Pelosi posted on X, then known as Twitter, calling out Republicans for passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which requires doctors to provide care for infants who survive a failed abortion.
"Today, instead of joining Democrats to condemn all political violence, [House Republicans] chose to push their extreme anti-choice agenda," Pelosi said in the post.
"Democrats believe everyone deserves the freedom to access reproductive health services — without fear of violence, intimidation or harassment," she added.
The Catholic Church teaches that, "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law."
In 2022, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said that Pelosi would be banned from receiving Holy Communion in her own San Francisco Archdiocese because of her pro-abortion position.
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"A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others," Cordileone wrote in a May 2022 letter. "Therefore, universal Church law provides that such persons ‘are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.'"
Martin and Notre Dame de Namur University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.