Pope Leo XIV appoints Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, known for barring then–House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Holy Communion, to one of the Vatican’s highest courts, according to multiple reports. Cordileone is reported to have made the Communion restriction in the Archdiocese of San Francisco in connection with Pelosi’s public position on abortion. Sources describe that in 2022 Cordileone said Pelosi would be barred from receiving Holy Communion in her home archdiocese due to her stance on abortion, which the Church links to doctrinal concerns.
The appointment is presented as a promotion within the Vatican’s judicial structure, placing Cordileone among senior figures serving on a top-level tribunal. While the reports focus on his prior stance toward Pelosi, they also characterize the new role as part of Pope Leo XIV’s broader appointments to prominent Vatican bodies. The coverage does not indicate that the Vatican changes its stated basis for the Communion decision, but it places the earlier dispute in the context of Cordileone’s new position within the Vatican.
