Trump appoints archbishop who banned Nancy Pelosi from communion to advisory board

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Salvatore J. Cordileone, archbishop of San Francisco, delivers a homily at the 2016 Steubenville Conference. | Wikimedia Commons/Steubenville Conferences https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salvatore_J._Cordileone.png

A prominent leader in the American Catholic Church known for feuding with one of the most powerful political figures in the United States has been appointed to the advisory board of President Donald Trump's newly formed Religious Liberty Commission.

In a statement published Thursday, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco announced that Trump had appointed Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to serve on the advisory board of his new Religious Liberty Commission.

Trump announced the formation of the commission at the White House earlier this month on the National Day of Prayer, noting that it would include 14 members and an advisory board consisting of no more than 15 religious leaders. 

"Religious liberty is a critical issue in our time that needs to be defended and addressed," Cordileone said in reaction to his appointment. "I am happy to join my brother bishops in providing a Catholic voice on this important topic at a national level."

Two other Catholic bishops were appointed to the Religious Liberty Commission — Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York. Two additional Catholic bishops were appointed to the advisory board — Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana.

Other appointees to the advisory board, as outlined in a statement published by The White House Friday, include Pastor Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia, Archbishop Elpidophros of the Greek Orthodox Church's Archdiocese of America, Father Thomas Ferguson of Good Shepherd Parish in Alexandria, Virginia, Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and four rabbis.

S.F. archbishop leads thousands against gay marriage

Carolyn Lochhead
Updated 2:51 pm, Thursday, June 19, 2014

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is seen at the Archdiocese of San Francisco on Thursday, June 6, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle









(06-19) 14:41 PDT WASHINGTON -- Kneeling on the sidewalk across from the U.S. Supreme Court, San Francisco's Roman Catholic archbishop led several thousand protesters Thursday in prayer against same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was the star attraction of a rally in Washington organized by National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown, the nation's leading opponent of same-sex marriage. Brown tapped Cordileone as the first speaker at the event and had him lead the group in prayer after a march from the west front of the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court steps.

The archbishop's attendance was controversial in San Francisco, where officials including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Ed Lee and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed letters urging Cordileone not to participate.

Cordileone told the crowd at Thursday's March for Marriage that he has "the support of Pope Francis for what we are doing today," citing approval by the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See to the United States, the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Washington. Cordileone chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops subcommittee for the promotion and defense of marriage.

The rally drew predominantly Latino and African American protesters from New York, New Jersey, Virginia and other nearby states, numbering in the low thousands at its peak. Throngs of couples and children spent several hours in sweltering heat listening to speakers, many of them pastors, declare that marriage should be limited to unions of one man and one woman for the sake of children.

Former Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee also addressed the protesters. Santorum argued that traditional marriage is good for the economy because "every marriage is a little business."

Cordileone told demonstrators that "every child comes from a mother and a father, and to deliberately deprive a child of knowing and being loved" by them is "outright injustice."

"This is our very nature; no law can change it," he said.

He compared the fight over same-sex marriage, where opponents appear to be losing ground daily, to abortion in the 1970s, when the procedure appeared to be gaining widespread acceptance.

But because "a small band of believers held the line on the sanctity of life in the womb," Cordileone said, opposition to abortion grew. Now, he declared, there exists "the most pro-life generation since Roe vs. Wade," the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Cordileone predicted that public opinion on same-sex marriage would follow a similar trajectory so that eventually "people will figure out that a child comes from a father and mother."

Cordileone's security detail blocked a reporter from interviewing the prelate during the walk to the court as the crowd was led in a chant of, "One man, one woman."

Joel Feliz, a protester from New York, said he came to the event "praying to God to see if he can do a miracle" and reverse the movement in states and federal courts to legalize same-sex marriage.

Barry Wood, 62, of Richmond, Va., said that once marriage is redefined to be "just about love, then you can make marriage anything you want: three men, four women, anything."

He said he was not surprised by the decline in what he called Judeo-Christian ethics, linking same-sex marriage with abortion and the removal of prayer from schools.

"It's all part of the sad walk into post-Christian society," Wood said. "We're trying to hang on to it."

Carolyn Lochhead is the San Francisco Chronicle's Washington correspondent. E-mail:clochhead@sfchronicle.com. Twitter:@carolynlochhead

Source

.