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In the News

12

National Catholic Register – March 6, 2024

On my porch last January, I found a bulky, wet, disintegrating brown envelope. As I moved to open it, the paper simply gave way, exposing a messy assortment of books, booklets and old mimeographed pages about the Catholic martyrs of Ukraine. These were sent by Father Andrew Summerson, a Toronto Byzantine Catholic priest, to help me fulfill an unusual commission from San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone: Create the text of a new hymn (with the music composed by Frank La Rocca) honoring the heroic witness of Ukraine’s martyrs and white martyrs.

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The Pillar – February 29, 2024

The Archbishop of San Francisco told The Pillar this week that more needs to be done to mark the witness of heroic Catholics who oppose totalitarian regimes in countries like Nicaragua and China.

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Catholicism & Culture – February 27, 2024

From Bach to Mozart, countless musicians have been inspired to write Maggie Gallagher, the Executive Director of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, discusses the importance of music and liturgy in the life of the Church.

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Florida Catholic – February 2024

From Bach to Mozart, countless musicians have been inspired to write Requiem Mass settings. On March 15, locals will have the opportunity to attend the world premiere of a new work, Frank La Rocca’s “Requiem for the Forgotten,” a piece originally commissioned by San Francisco’s archbishop.

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National Catholic Register – September 12, 2023

Witness Samantha Court, a 14-year-old girl who starts John Paul II College Preparatory High School in Houston this fall, who was recently named the winner of the first-ever Benedict XVI Institute Teen Writing Fellowship.

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Fox News – August 10, 2023

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that properly educating Catholics and organizing around critical social issues is the only way for the Catholic Church to make headway back into the modern cultural arena.

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The Pillar – May 25, 2023

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote to local prosecutors Wednesday, telling them he is “disturbed but not surprised” at a decision to downgrade the prosecution of five people who desecrated a statue of St. Junipero Serra in 2020.

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Breitbart – May 24, 2023

“Our Catholic sisters devote themselves to serving others selflessly. Decent people would not mock & blaspheme them. So, we now know what gods the Dodger admin worships. Open desecration & anti-Catholicism is not disqualifying,” Cordileone said, adding, “Disappointing but not surprising. Gird your loins.”

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Catholic Culture – March 17, 2023

This essay effectively draws together the best insights into reality and how it can be portrayed, especially in fiction, so that by the end you will not wish to read (or write) anything that does not deliberately and artfully engage both reality’s immanence and its transcendence. It is not for readers who rarely stray beyond “pop” (such as my beloved mysteries). But for a 63-page manifesto, it is immensely rewarding.

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First Things – April, 2023

Without downplaying the challenges of this post-Christian, neo-­barbaric world, Hren’s work remains one of hope and inspiration. This little volume is a fine offering (conveniently ­stocking-­stuffer-sized!) for the prayerful consideration of writers, readers, and all lovers of the exquisite richness of that which is truly real.

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New Liturgical Movement – March 8, 2023

NLM is pleased to offer readers this exclusive interview with Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, in advance of this Saturday’s Lenten prayer service that will feature great music by past masters as well as three newly-commissioned works. Charlotte Allen is literary editor of CatholicArtsToday.com, which is published by the BenedictInstitute.org.

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New Liturgical Movement – March 6, 2023

Dr. Alfred Calabrese will conduct the 20-voice Band of Voices Choir in a worship service featuring works of Palestrina, Victoria, and Di Lasso paired with works by living Catholic composers, including three World Premieres commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute: Popule meus by Daniel Knaggs, Ad te levavi oculos meos by Mark Nowakowski and Timor et tremor by Jeffrey Quick, as well as a performance of Frank La Rocca’s Miserere.

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Corpus Christi Watershed – March 4, 2023

”Miserere: A Lenten Prayer Service” is a production of The Benedict XVI Institute in San Francisco. Archbishop Cordileone will preside over this service from the beautiful Mission Dolores Basilica. To stream this live broadcast, click on the link below and register. Registration is free.

The service features the choir singing eight Latin motets, four from the Renaissance and four from living composers writing in response to the same texts. The four living composers are Daniel Knaggs, Mark Nowakowski, Jeffrey Quick, and Frank La Rocca, the Institute’s Composer in Residence. All but the LaRocca piece will be world premieres.

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National Catholic Register – February 7, 2023

We need healing. More than a year ago, as we began to emerge from the Covid nightmare, I commissioned a new healing Mass for the World Day of the Sick in honor Our Lady of Lourdes from the Benedict XVI Institute’s composer-in-residence Frank La Rocca.

On Feb. 11 at 11am PST at Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light, we will gather for an extraordinary event: the first celebration of the Messe des Malades: Honoring Our Lady of Lourdes. In addition to featuring, as the Order of Malta does every year on the World Day of the Sick, the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and the blessing of the hands of their caretakers, it will also provide a special display of Catholic unity: the knights and dames of the Order from both sides of the Bay — San Francisco and Oakland — will join together at the cathedral where the Order operates its free medical clinic for the poor, with Bishop Michael Barber as celebrant of the Mass and me as preacher. And in addition to the Order of Malta, the Mass will also bring together the Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulcher, the Knights of Columbus, the Dominican Friarorderofmaltawestern.us/wds-lourdes-water-preps Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, and the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist — all processing together to worship God and ask for healing love for our broken world.

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Order of Malta Western Association – February 6, 2023

The Oakland Location assembled 800 packets of Lourdes water in preparation for their joint World Day of the Sick Mass with the San Francisco Location.

Lourdes Water, holy cards, and rosaries for our dear Malades…300 to go!

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Liturgical Arts Journal – July 12, 2022

One of our readers, the priest who very kindly commissioned the altar cards in question, recently shared some new works of liturgical art that were produced for the occasion of the celebration of a Pontifical Mass for the feast of St. Juniper Serra — the founder of nine of the twenty one California Spanish Missions — by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at Mission Dolores (Mission San Francisco de Asís) in San Francisco.

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Medium – January 10, 2023

Big plans are set for Saturday, February 11, 2023, for the world premiere of a new healing Mass honoring our Lady of Lourdes at The Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA for Frank La Rocca’s Messe Des Malades. EWTN will also be broadcasting the event live.

Messe Des Malades honors Our Lady of Lourdes and will surround the liturgy participants with a musical arrangement bestowing respite from the world. Guests will be transported to a restorative ambience, one reminiscent to that of an experience in the Grotto of Lourdes, in France. All this is to be performed by the Benedict XVI Choir, 20 world-class singers under the direction of Richard Sparks. Frank La Rocca begins his 4th year as COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE at the Benedict XVI Institute.

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Catholic Herald – August 24, 2022

More recently, Cordileone said: “Let us, here in San Francisco, lead the way by example. Let us make our Golden Gate an authentic symbol of a city that will let no stranger wait outside its door, and where the wandering one will say, “I’ll wander no more.””

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Aleteia – August 4, 2022

This recording was released in the beginning of July. The choir comes from the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, an organization whose mission follows La Rocca’s own goals of celebrating the faith through performance of the most beautiful sacred songs. They contend that even with Catholicism’s vast catalog of hymns and art songs, “The greatest art, the greatest liturgy the Catholic Church has ever produced is yet to come.”

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National Catholic Register – June 25, 2022

Two years ago, statues of St. Junípero Serra were desecrated and toppled within the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone did not cower amid the furor. There were shouts to cancel St. Junípero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan priest and missionary who brought the Gospel to the Native peoples of New Spain’s Alta California. Archbishop Cordileone’s response was to simply draw from the deposit of faith: through prayer, honoring and knowing the faith’s rich tradition and history and, like St. Junípero, to keep moving forward and never turn back.

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Visalia Times-Delta – June 8, 2022

The Central Valley’s leader of the Catholic Church is publicly backing ‘sanctions’ in support of forbidding Communion to pro-choice parishioners.

Bishop Joseph V. Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno church released a letter on Monday supporting an archbishop’s decision to deny House Speaker Nancy Pelosi her Communion, due to her continuing support of abortion.

“[The archbishop] has taken a lot of heat, in and out of the church, for standing up for what’s right,” Brennan said in the letter.

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Washington Times – May 11, 2022

A government that creates classes of people whom it prefers and classes whom it hates or as to whom it is indifferent should be altered or abolished. The whole business of state-sanctioned killing of innocents is, as San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone called it, unfathomable.

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National Catholic Register – February 27, 2022

While Bernadette Carstensen began painting as a child and planned to become an illustrator, she had no idea that an intriguing art contest would reroute her into becoming the contemporary sacred artist she is today. She has received major commissions and, recently, her painting St. Joseph, Terror of Demons garnered third place in 2021’s Catholic Art Institute Sacred Art Contest, which drew 300 submissions from countries around the world. Her Patron Saints of the Homeless also placed among the few finalists for the top three prizes.


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Catholic Culture Podcast – February 3, 2022

For two decades, Maggie Gallagher was a leading voice writing about the importance of permanent, monogamous marriage to society. At first, that included pointing out the problems with divorce, feminism and single parenthood. Then as same-sex marriage became the predominant issue, Gallagher became the public face of the movement against it.

A few years after the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across the 50 states, Gallagher switched gears when Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco asked her to be Executive Director of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, which he founded in 2013. She says that to avoid despair, we have to build beautiful things.


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Arkansas Democrat Gazette – January 29, 2022

Archbishop Cordileone released this response via Twitter, using language implying the actions of Satan: ‘The attempted desecration is enormous. Diabolical. Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death. Amen.’


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National Catholic Register – January 24, 2022

‘The new secular religion of our own time takes on this practice in an almost sacramental way: indeed, abortion has become, for them, their blessed sacrament, what they hold most sacred, the doctrine and practice upon which their whole belief system is built.’


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National Catholic Register – January 23, 2022

The San Francisco event is led and largely attended by Catholics; San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was honored at the event and is a regular participant. The Los Angeles event is organized by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez speaks to walkers and participates in the event.


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Catholic Sentinel – January 22, 2022

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone subsequently tweeted: “The attempted desecration is enormous. Diabolical. Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death. Amen.”


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National Catholic Register – January 21, 2022

“The attempted desecration is enormous. Diabolical,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco tweeted. “Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death. Amen.”


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Daily Wire – January 21, 2022

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone slammed the abortion advocates’ display, calling it “diabolical” and accusing the Catholics for Choice of “attempted desecration.”


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CNS News – January 21, 2022

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, one of the leading pro-life leaders in the Catholic Church, referred to the assault as a “desecration,” further branding it as “diabolical.”


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Info Catolica – January 21, 2022

En su cuenta de Twitter, Mons. Cordileone ha dicho

El intento de profanación es enorme. Diabólico. Madre María, ruega por ellos, ahora y en la hora de la muerte. Amén.


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Breitbart – January 21, 2022

“The attempted desecration is enormous,” wrote Archbishop Cordileone on Twitter in reaction to the incident. “Diabolical. Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death.  Amen.”


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Do Rzeczy – January 21, 2022

Z kolei abp Salvatore Cordileone z San Francisco napisał: „Zamierzona profanacja jest ogromna. Diaboliczna. Matko Maryjo, módl się za nimi teraz i w godzinę śmierci. Amen”.


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National Catholic Reporter – January 21, 2022

The protest did stoke reaction on social media, however, with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone quote-tweeting a picture of the protest with the words: “The attempted desecration is enormous. Diabolical. Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death. Amen.”

Cordileone, a known conservative among U.S. bishops, has repeatedly suggested denying Communion to Catholic politicians who back abortion rights while invoking the Catholic Church’s longstanding opposition to abortion. The issue became a subject of heated disagreement among bishops as they debated a document on the Eucharist throughout 2021, with some mentioning Biden by name. The final document, approved in November, did not single out politicians.


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ACI Prensa – January 21, 2022

“El intento de profanación es enorme. Diabólico. Madre María, ruega por ellos, ahora y en la hora de la muerte. Amén”, tuiteó el Arzobispo de San Francisco, Mons. Salvatore Cordileone.


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Aleteia – January 20, 2022

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and others might disagree that the protest was conducted “respectfully.”

“The attempted desecration is enormous,” Cordileone said on Twitter. “Diabolical.”


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Angelus – January 20, 2022

The images were first reported on Twitter at 6:31 p.m. EST by reporter Jack Jenkins of Religious News Service. Widely shared on social media, the images drew some support but also sharp denunciations.

“The attempted desecration is enormous. Diabolical,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco tweeted. “Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death. Amen.”


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National Catholic Register – January 21, 2022

“The attempted desecration is enormous. Diabolical,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco tweeted. “Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death. Amen.”


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The Tablet – January 18, 2022

This year, the Mass was not celebrated according to the Tridentine rite; Instead, it was a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin, and Cordileone presided ad orientem. The musical setting by Frank La Rocca, composer-in-residence at Cordileone’s Benedict XVI Institute, is dedicated to the Blessed Mother under the title Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, and as the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the US.


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National Catholic Register – January 12, 2022

What is the deepest point of the Mass?

For well-catechized Catholics the answer is clear: In every Mass, Jesus Christ makes his sacrifice on Calvary 2,000 years ago present to us in our own time and space, making Himself substantially present under the appearances of Bread and Wine, uniting us to Him (and therefore to each other) as the Body of Christ through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We worship God through joining ourselves with Christ in the sacrifice He made for us.


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Washington Times – December 30, 2021

Several actions by Archbishop Cordileone merited approval by CatholicVote, the organization said.

They cited his “boldly” challenging the claim by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat in his diocese, of being a “devout Catholic” despite her support for abortion, in contravention of church teachings.

“Defying physical threats and the Twitter mob,” CatholicVote said, Archbishop Cordileone “publicly defended St. Junipero Serra and the Catholic missions in California” against charges of mistreating indigenous peoples.


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America – December 30, 2021

Ms. Pelosi describes herself as a devout Catholic but has not been without religious controversy because of her pro-choice views on abortion. Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone, whose archdiocese includes Pelosi’s congressional district, made headlines for starting a “Rose and Rosary for Nancy” campaign. Almost 12,200 people joined in to pray for the Speaker to have a change of heart on abortion and sent her flowers to invoke the help of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.


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Archdiocese of San Francisco – December 30, 2021

The top of the CatholicVote list is San Francisco’s own Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone. “Does any prelate lead quite like Archbishop Cordileone?” asked CatholicVote, a national pro-life Catholic 501-c-3 organization.


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Catholic Vote – December 29, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco is S

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco

Let me repeat: no one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it.” ~Archbishop Cordileone

Does any prelate lead quite like Archbishop Cordileone?

He boldly called out Nancy Pelosi on her spurious claim to be a “devout Catholic,” but he also started a national campaign of prayer for her conversion and salvation.

Defying physical threats and the Twitter mob, he publicly defended St. Junipero Serra and the Catholic missions in California. He also reached out as a spiritual father to Catholic high school students who were protesting a pro-life speaker. And he challenged his brother bishops to join together in publicly witnessing to Eucharistic coherence.

Why? He’s a man of deep integrity. For him, everything stems from a profound conviction that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ himself.

He sees that the Body and Blood of Christ is the foundation of the dignity of the human person, and the only path forward for a just society.

peaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s bishop. Archbishop Cordileone and Pelosi are both Catholic. And that’s about where their similarities end.

Pelosi, a committed Democrat, lamented that the support of pro-life voters for former President Donald Trump was an issue that “gives me great grief as a Catholic.” Pelosi made the comment on a Jan. 18 podcast with former senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

“I think that Donald Trump is president because of the issue of a woman’s right to choose,” said Pelosi, implying that pro-life voters boosted Trump to victory in 2016. She added that these voters “were willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue.”

Archbishop Cordileone rebuked Pelosi in a statement issued days later, saying, “No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion” and that ”Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop,” he said.

The archbishop also promoted a “Rose and a Rosary for Nancy Pelosi” campaign, which saw more than 16,000 people commit to praying for Pelosi’s change of heart on life issues.


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National Catholic Register – December 29, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco is Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s bishop. Archbishop Cordileone and Pelosi are both Catholic. And that’s about where their similarities end.

Pelosi, a committed Democrat, lamented that the support of pro-life voters for former President Donald Trump was an issue that “gives me great grief as a Catholic.” Pelosi made the comment on a Jan. 18 podcast with former senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

“I think that Donald Trump is president because of the issue of a woman’s right to choose,” said Pelosi, implying that pro-life voters boosted Trump to victory in 2016. She added that these voters “were willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue.”

Archbishop Cordileone rebuked Pelosi in a statement issued days later, saying, “No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion” and that ”Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop,” he said.

The archbishop also promoted a “Rose and a Rosary for Nancy Pelosi” campaign, which saw more than 16,000 people commit to praying for Pelosi’s change of heart on life issues.


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Life News – December 28, 2021

Third, some Catholic bishops have become increasingly vocal about the evil of abortion and the supposedly Catholic politicians like Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who support it. They have expressed serious concerns that these politicians, through their prominence and actions, are creating “scandal” for the church by making it seem acceptable to be Catholic and support the killing of unborn babies in abortions.

In particular, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Tyler, Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland and Cardinal Raymond Burke, have been strong in their insistence that Biden and Pelosi repent and stop supporting abortion if they want to continue to receive Communion.


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Catholic New York – December 28, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco will serve as principal celebrant of the Mass of the Americas Saturday, Jan. 15, at 11 a.m. at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, 263 Mulberry St. in lower Manhattan.

The Solemn Pontifical High Mass, with the Benedict Sixteen Choir and Orchestra, is a tribute to the Blessed Mother under her titles of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States and Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Mexico and all the Americas.


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New Liturgical Movement – December 23, 2021

Rorate Mass celebrated by His Excellency Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco; photos courtesy of Roseanne Sullivan.


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Aleteia – December 16, 2021

Thousands of roses are being delivered to the Washington, D.C., office of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, as part of a prayer campaign to help her change her mind about legal abortion.

The “Rose and Rosary for Nancy” campaign was initiated September 29 by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. Pelosi, a Democrat, is a resident of San Francisco and a Catholic. She also holds strong positions in support of legal abortion.

Following Archbishop Cordileone’s call, thousands of Catholics signed up at BenedictInstitute.org, pledging to pray at least one rosary a week for Pelosi and fast on Fridays for her conversion. The Archdiocese of San Francisco pledged to send one rose for each person who signed up.


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EWTN News Nightly – December 14, 2021

Thousands in the Archdiocese of San Francisco have joined an initiative in praying for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and for her to have a change of heart regarding abortions. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone says he is pleased with the results of a Rose and a Rosary for Pelosi.


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San Francisco Chronicle – December 1, 2021

“It’s not politics that’s motivating me; I’m a pastor of souls,” Cordileone said. “And I want to help people on the path to salvation to be at peace in their conscience before the time when they appear before God.”


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The Pillar – November 24, 2021

It remains to be seen what “concrete gestures” will accompany the bishops’ recent synodal document on the Eucharist. Perhaps one example they might emulate is that taken by Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco.

While the archbishop has been unflinching in his denunciation of abortion, and responded forthrightly to questions about the position of his most prominent local Catholic, Nancy Pelosi, on the subject, he has stopped short of publicly announcing that she would be barred from receiving Communion.

Instead, Cordileone has reiterated that he is pursuing private dialogue with a member of his flock, and urged a public campaign of prayer for her to change her mind on abortion.


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Catholic News Agency – November 22, 2021

The archbishop of San Francisco has encouraged students at a local Catholic high school to reject the lies of the abortion industry and become courageous advocates for life, following a boycott of a pro-life assembly at the school.

“Do not be victims of the culture,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote in an open letter to students at Archbishop Riordan High School.

Cordileone met with student leaders at the high school on Nov. 8 to discuss the incident.


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National Catholic Register – November 22, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco told the Register that “our goal is not to make abortion illegal; our goal is to make abortion unthinkable. Making it illegal will be a great help toward that end only if we’re truly pro-life and provide women real options.”

He said that women need “love and support to make the choice for life; bring that baby in the world and raise that baby in the world — and that’s why I’m so proud of our Catholics and other people of faith who run these pro-life crisis-pregnancy clinics. They give the woman that possibility. If all we did was make abortion illegal and did nothing else, it could make the situation worse, because there would be a lot of back-alley abortions, and it’s highly unregulated as it is now.”

Archbishop Cordileone added that while he was happy for the possibility that Roe could be overturned, “it would go back to the states, the political fight and advocacy would be at the state level, but it doesn’t change our mission of being pro-life and providing women love and support so they can make a choice for life and be happy.”


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National Catholic Register – November 18, 2021

In recent years Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and the San Francisco Archdiocese have begun to celebrate an annual Mass to memorialize the deceased homeless. This year the event would be augmented by the artistic efforts emerging from associates of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship.


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Wall Street Journal – November 17, 2021

The Catholic bishops of the U.S. ended a nearly yearlong debate Wednesday over whether to bar politicians who support abortion rights from receiving the Eucharist, passing new guidance on Communion that doesn’t address the issue.

The measure passed by a vote of 222-8 and was followed by applause at a gathering here of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.


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CBS News – November 17, 2021

San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and other supporters of the document being voted on have said in the past it’s not directed at any particular Catholic but the election of President Biden “gave a stimulus” to having bigger conversations about the topic.

“The election of President Biden, a church-going Catholic, who also takes positions that are direct attacks, direct attacks on human life, gave more impetus to this,” Cordileone told CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe.


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America – November 17, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco proposed an amendment to the document because, he wrote, it failed to include the unborn on its list of “vulnerable people.” The amendment echoed a debate from 2019, when bishops voted to describe the “threat of abortion” as their “preeminent priority” in a voting guide ahead of the 2020 election.

Archbishop Cordileone, who has recently supported a public prayer campaign targeting Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her support of legalized abortion, wrote in his proposed modification that if the document failed to emphasize abortion, it would “place yet another pastoral obstacle in the path to our efforts to teach and witness convincingly to the dignity of human life in the womb.”


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Washington Post – November 17, 2021

“‘To fail to acknowledge the category of human beings that represents the largest destruction of human life in our time would be a glaring omission. Moreover, for some of us, it would turn this document into a problem rather than a help,’ wrote San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, one of the more outspoken conservative bishops. His suggestion was accepted by the committee.”


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Newsweek – November 15, 2021

The Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, the Catholic archbishop of San Francisco and an outspoken conservative, believes pro-choice politicians should not be offered Communion. In 2008, while auxiliary bishop of San Diego, he helped lead the fight for California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In 2015, he warned teachers at four local Catholic high schools that they could not publicly support homosexual acts, embryonic stem cell research and contraception. In September 2020, he took on the state of California for limiting indoor church services while giving latitude to shopping malls.

This past September, he asked Catholics to pray and fast for a “conversion of heart” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who campaigns for abortion rights. He also placed editorials in major newspapers slamming pro-choice Catholic politicians—he didn’t mention Biden by name—for being on the wrong side of the abortion debate. Biden struck back by scheduling an Oct. 30 meeting with the Pope.

Newsweek Contributing Editor for Religion Julia Duin spoke to Archbishop Cardileone about the intersection of religion and politics, and what to expect from the bishops’ conference.


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National Review – November 14, 2021

At the meeting in June, San Francisco archbishop Salvatore Cordileone asked how the bishops can “expect to be taken seriously” if they do not “act courageously, clearly and convincingly on this core Catholic value,” the Washington Post reported.

Cordileone, who is Pelosi’s archbishop, has said priests should deny Communion to Catholic public figures who support abortion rights.


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ABC News – November 14, 2021

Among the outspoken Biden critics is Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco — the hometown of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also a Catholic. Cordileone has made clear his view that Pelosi and Biden should refrain from receiving Communion.

Cordileone told AP he’s not expecting the proposed document to single out Biden, but he wants it to send a firm message regarding Catholics in public life and their stance on abortion.

He cited several “grave evils” that pose threats to society — such as human trafficking, racism, terrorism, climate change and a flawed immigration system.

“The difference with abortion,” he added, “is that it is the only one of these grave evils that many people in public life are explicitly promoting.”


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Catholic News Agency – November 12, 2021

Responding to Stowe’s comments, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, a supporter of the draft document, told CNA that it is vital that the bishops speak clearly on the Eucharist.

“To forge a new unity in Christ, and a new Eucharistic revival, we bishops will have to work hard, remain open to each other and to the Holy Spirit and hold fast to the Teachings of Christ including this one: The Eucharist is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord. Take Communion only if you are in communion with Him. Confession opens the gate to heaven,” Cordileone said.

“We need to speak truth to each other, and to speak God’s truth to those in power,” he said.


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EWTN – November 11, 2021

MOST REV. SALVATORE CORDILEONE, Archbishop of San Francisco and member of the USCCB Canonical Affairs Committee discuss the upcoming USCCB Fall Assembly, the discussion of Eucharistic Coherence and the latest controversy over the status of the Traditional Latin Mass.


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Townhall – November 11, 2021

In a new interview, Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who oversees House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home diocese, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, slammed the Biden administration for supporting the abortion “bloodbath” and discussed if pro-abortion politicians should receive Holy Communion.


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Marin Independent Journal – November 10, 2021

In a Columbus Day press conference, activists called on Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli to drop all the charges against the five people who trespassed onto the parish grounds of Mission San Rafael with ropes and paint to deface a statue of Junípero Serra. The five have been charged with felony vandalism (destruction of property worth more than $1,000) and their case is slowly winding its way through the Marin County courts.

According to reports by the local media, it appears these vandals’ defenders are essentially saying that Serra is such a monster that they are entitled to destroy other people’s sacred objects to call attention to historical abuses.

You don’t have to be Catholic, or agree with my views on Serra, to recognize that this is wrong and intolerable in a free and diverse society.

I repeat what I have said before: The people advocating this negative view of Serra don’t know the man Pope Francis canonized in 2015.

According to my studies, Serra renounced a comfortable life as a university professor to cross an ocean and serve the Indigenous peoples by bringing them the best thing he knew: faith in Jesus Christ.

He defended them, and not without great personal sacrifice, against the Spanish soldiers who committed human rights abuses. He educated them. Then, with their help, they built the beautiful mission churches, inventing a style of architecture together that is still widely admired today. When he died, Spaniards and Indians alike mourned his passing. All things considered, he is a model of what those who call for racial justice say we should act like.

It is my understanding that the missions were secularized by the Mexican government and the Franciscans were ordered to leave before they could realize their vision of handing the mission property over to the Indians for their own self-governance. And then the real genocide began, perpetrated not by gentle Franciscan friars but by California political elites whose names and statues still line our state Capitol.

The prosecution of the Serra statue vandals is not — or not only — a debate about him; it is about our own standards of how we treat each other when we disagree.

Regardless of how much anyone may disagree with Muslims’ views of the Prophet Muhammed, we do not advocate for the right of vandals to trespass on a mosque and deface their sacred space to express a dissenting point of view. We would never say that those who disagree with the Israeli government can enter a synagogue and obliterate the Star of David to express their grievances.

In 2006, Bishop Francis Quinn conducted a moving service in which he apologized for cruelties committed against Miwok people by church officials. I join him in this. I would hope it might motivate others responsible for human rights abuses against the Indigenous people of California to do the same.

In Serra’s case, he left a legacy of thousands of spiritual children, many of whom remain practicing Catholics. They are a long part of the fabric of the Catholic community in the Bay Area and beyond. The prosecution of the Serra statute vandals is fundamentally about people of all faiths, and none, coming together to defend the rights of all.

The job of a district attorney is to uphold the law fairly for all, Catholics included, and we thank Frugoli for doing her duty.

It has been written that restorative justice should be considered. To date, the perpetrators of the crime have not asked me to explore restorative justice. The first condition of restorative justice is that the person who committed the crime takes responsibility and admits the wrongdoing and apologizes for the offense inflicted. The next step is for both parties to seek mutual understanding, and then for the offender or offenders to make reparation.

I would rejoice and be grateful to begin such a journey of reconciliation with the Serra statue vandals. However, if the press conference last month is any indication, I fear that this is not something in which they or their supporters are interested.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone leads the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, serving Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.


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Washington Post – November 8, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone has applauded the charges as a “breakthrough moment for Catholics.” It does not appear that any other protesters who have toppled or vandalized Serra statues have faced any kind of charges.


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Catholic Sun – November 9, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone brought together San Francisco’s faith, civic and social service communities at St. Mary’s Cathedral for a special Mass he commissioned to pray for the souls of homeless people who died on the city’s streets.

The “Requiem Mass for the Homeless” Nov. 6 featured the sacred music of Frank La Rocca, composer-in-residence of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship in San Francisco.


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America Magazine – November 9, 2021

In this wide-ranging conversation on “The Gloria Purvis Podcast,” host Gloria Purvis speaks with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco about some of the most contested issues in the Catholic Church today. Gloria asks the archbishop about President Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis, his relationship with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the ongoing debate over Communion for pro-choice Catholic politicians and more.


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EWTN News Nightly – November 8, 2021

The Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, is asking Catholics to focus on, pray for and find ways to support the homeless this year. Over the weekend, the archbishop held a requiem Mass for the homeless with sacred music by his composer, Frank LaRocca, to depict life on the streets. Archbishop Cordileone says, “The whole message of this Mass and what I tried to highlight in my homily is that we are all children of God. We all have equal human dignity.” He explained the day by saying, “We walked over to the Tenderloin the more impoverished of San Francisco, where the Franciscans operate a dining hall with many other wonderful services and also staff and parish there. It was a very beautiful day. I keep telling Frank LaRocca he is a genius because he can take my outlandish ideas and actually realize them.”


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Catholic News Agency – October 30, 2021

As I approach these next few weeks, I am struck less with the conflicts the media likes to project than with the deeply reinforcing unity of Church teaching, grounded in the Catholic sacramental sense.


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KPIX – October 29, 2021

The debate over whether the president should receive communion only adds to the conflict between the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the same issue.


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Washington Post – October 27, 2021

Oh, yes, and Francis granted a private audience to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) this month even though her home archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, had said not two weeks earlier that public figures who support abortion rights should be denied Communion. The archbishop urged Catholics to pray for Pelosi to undergo a “conversion of heart.”


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Fox News – October 23 2021

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also recently met with Pope Francis. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has repeatedly spoken out in opposition to Catholic politicians supporting abortion, and urged prayer for Pelosi.


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Associated Press – October 22 2021

Francis already has made clear he won’t shun U.S. political leaders who support abortion rights. On Oct. 9 he met at the Vatican with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose abortion stance has drawn the wrath of the top Catholic in her hometown of San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

Cordileone has been urging the U.S. bishops conference to send a message to Biden, Pelosi and others “that would move them in their conscience.”


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Get Religion – October 21, 2021

If facts are what matters here, it’s obvious that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordelione should play a major role in these debates — since he is Pelosi’s bishop. Thus, he plays a crucial role in determining her sacramental status in the church. Who included his voice in this discussion and who didn’t?


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National Catholic Reporter – October 21, 2021

Arroyo’s guest lineup is a who’s-who of the Catholic right, including Steve Bannon, likely soon-to-be prosecuted for contempt in Congress’ investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection. His favorite guests from the hierarchy are San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Bishop Thomas Paprocki from Springfield, Illinois; Cardinal Gerhard Müller (whom Francis removed as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan — conservative darlings all.


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The Free Press – October 21, 2021

But this week, CNSNews.com reported that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is calling on prayer to win over Pelosi.

Cordileone urged all Catholics to offer special prayers, and to fast, every Friday for Pelosi.

“Speaker Pelosi speaks fondly of her children,” he said. “She clearly has a maternal heart. Pope Francis has called abortion murder, the equivalent of hiring a hitman to solve a problem. The solution to a woman in a crisis pregnancy is not violence but love.”


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Catholic New York – October 21, 2021

Because Ms. Pelosi supports legalized abortion, her archbishop, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, asked “all Catholics and others of good will” to join a prayer and fasting campaign for her “conversion.”


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Fox News – October 21, 2021

To be fair, a few Church leaders in California and beyond have made laudible efforts to stand up against the sacrilege of the rioters.

The Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, has visited two other sites where statues had been torn down.  There, he performed a religious rite called “exorcism,” a prayer to cast out evil and reclaim a person or place for God.


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Public Discourse – October 21, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone described HR 3755 as “nothing short of child sacrifice.” It would make abortion legal for any reason before the child can survive outside the womb, which is usually considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. After viability is reached, abortion would be legal if an abortion services provider says that “continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health.” This language seems to allow restrictions, but in effect it eliminates limitations on late-term abortions. “Health” is not defined in the bill, but courts have considered emotional and financial concerns as “health.” Risk does not have to be physical or serious. Nothing in the bill requires an attempt to preserve the life of a baby who could survive outside the womb.


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National Catholic Register – October 21, 2021

You frequently remind us you come from a family of pro-life Catholics and that   you had five children in six years. You even credit the skills you developed   while bringing up your children for making you the leader you are today. As   Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone pointed out when launching the “Roses and   Rosaries for Nancy” campaign, you obviously have a “maternal heart.” You also   care deeply for the poor.


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National Catholic Reporter – October 19, 2021

In that piece Cordileone argued that Catholic bishops should not “stay in [their] lane” as pastors and bishops, but that they have a right, even a duty, to excommunicate Catholic officeholders who are “on the wrong side of the preeminent human rights issue of our time [abortion].”


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Aleteia – October 19, 2021

Catholic leaders have contested the notion that St. Junipero Serra was such a controversial figure. On September 13, Archbishops Jose Gomez of Los Angeles and Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, in which they called such claims “outrageous.”


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Catholic Sun – October 15, 2021

Close to 12,200 people in the Archdiocese of San Francisco have joined the “Rose and Rosary for Nancy” campaign launched by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to urge prayers for a “change of heart” for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on abortion.


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ACI Prensa – October 15, 2021

El Arzobispo de San Francisco, Mons. Salvatore Cordileone, precisó que el reciente encuentro del Papa Francisco con Nancy Pelosi, no significa un respaldo de la Iglesia Católica a la postura a favor del aborto de la presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos.

Así lo expresó el Prelado el 13 de octubre, en una entrevista para el programa “The Chris Salcedo Shaw” de Newsmax TV.


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Washington Post – October 14, 2021

Last week, Francis held a private audience with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has been the target of similar criticism by conservative Catholics, including her own archbishop, over her support for abortion rights.


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America – October 14, 2021

In September, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a statement “inviting all Catholics to join in a massive and visible campaign of prayer and fasting for Speaker Pelosi: commit to praying one rosary a week and fasting on Fridays for her conversion of heart.” This week, the Benedict XVI Institute, whose board Archbishop Cordileone chairs, announced it would spend $50,000 on digital advertising featuring the archbishop promoting the rosary campaign.


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New York Post – October 14, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in May that Pelosi wasn’t entitled to Communion due to her support of abortion rights and that “she’s respectful enough not to do anything so provocative.”


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Newsweek – October 14, 2021

But Pelosi also has faced backlash, including from San Francisco’s archbishop, who likened abortion to “child sacrifice” in a recent statement.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone urged Catholics to “pray and fast for members of Congress to do the right thing and keep this atrocity from being enacted in the law.” He also called the proposal is “surely the type of legislation one would expect from a devout Satanist, not a devout Catholic.”


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Arlington Catholic Herald – October 14, 2021

Because Pelosi supports legalized abortion, her archbishop, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, asked “all Catholics and others of goodwill” to join a prayer and fasting campaign for Pelosi’s “conversion.”


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National Catholic Reporter – October 14, 2021

On Sept. 24, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that mandates the removal of a statue of Serra from the grounds of the state capitol. Gomez and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone published an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal decrying the bill and arguing that “no serious historian” agrees with the legislative language, which states: “Enslavement of both adults and children, mutilation, genocide, and assault on women were all part of the mission period initiated and overseen by Father Serra.”


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Info Vaticano – October 14, 2021

La visita de la Pelosi al Vaticano nos ha devuelto al debate sobre la comunión de Biden.  A estas alturas, no tenemos dudas que el Papa Francisco es favorable, sin decirlo mucho, pero favorable. Tenemos artículo de Jeff Mirus, presidente de Trinity Communications: «¿Sirviente o adulador?» y se refiere a la última hazaña del Papa Francisco, quien, con gran coraje y desprecio por cualquier crítica farisaica a los siniestros tradicionalistas, recibió en audiencia a la Pelosi. Cordileone, no solo reprendió públicamente a la Pelosi, autodenominada católica practicante, por su apoyo al aborto, sino que también pidió oraciones y ayunos por su conversión. La Pelosi,  italoamericana de 81 años, es la portavoz de los demócratas en el Congreso, defensora de pro-elección, de libertad de aborto, y financiamiento estatal de organizaciones pro-aborto,  ambientalista radical, pro inmigración, pro investigación sobre células madre embrionarias y  contra escuelas privadas; todo ello parece ser muy apreciado por el Papa Francisco.


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Hawaii Catholic Herald – October 13, 2021

Because Pelosi supports legalized abortion, her archbishop, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, asked “all Catholics and others of goodwill” to join a prayer and fasting campaign for Pelosi’s “conversion.”

“A conversion of heart of the majority of our congressional representatives is needed on this issue, beginning with the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” Archbishop Cordileone said in a statement Sept. 29.


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Washington Examiner – October 12, 2021

This comes after Pelosi met with Pope Francis last weekend amid Catholic backlash for her pro-abortion stance despite self-identifying as a “devout” Catholic.

“No one can claim to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it,” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone scolded Pelosi in a statement.


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Catholic News Agency – October 12, 2021

More than 10,000 people have committed to pray the rosary and to fast on Fridays for the ideological conversion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the subject of abortion, the Benedict XVI Institute announced Tuesday.


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Texas News Today – October 9, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone last month San Francisco Called for a “massive and visible campaign of prayer and fasting” for the conversion of Pelosi’s mind after the passage of HR 3755. According to him, it would “require abortion nationwide at any stage of pregnancy.”


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Times News Express – October 9, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in May that Pelosi wasn’t entitled to communion due to her support of legal abortion and that “she’s respectful enough not to do anything so provocative.”


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News Talk Florida – October 5, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone called on Catholics and “others of goodwill” to join the campaign a few days after The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021 passed in the House, 218 to 211, on Friday.


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Aleteia – September 2, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco tweeted on Tuesday that it was “very sad news” that the Afghan employees were still unable to get out. “Keep praying for Roots of Peace workers.”


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VENTURA COUNTY STAR – September 18, 2021

Archbishops plead with California Gov Newsom over controversial statue


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THE HILL – September 18, 2021

Stop the Slander of Father Serra


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THE GUARDIAN – September 17, 2021

Archbishops urge California governor to save controversial statue of 18th-century priest


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ALETEIA – September 17, 2021

California bishops defend St. Junipero from legislators’ “slander”


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SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE – September 17, 2021

S.F. archbishop pleads with Newsom to save Junipero Serra statue at state Capitol


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TIMES OF MALTA – September 15, 2021

An Urgent Human Rights Challenge


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NEWSMAX – September 9, 2021

Interview with Archbishop Cordileone


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HOT AIR – September 10, 2021

As Biden continues down the path away from Church teachings and risks misleading other Catholics about it, the more that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s argument will resonate with the other members of the USCCB


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CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE – September 10, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone similarly criticized these leaders and also highlighted state support for pregnancy centers in Texas in a Sept. 5 op-ed piece in The Washington Post where he said: “Texas gets this right.”

“The state is investing $100 million to help mothers by funding pregnancy centers, adoption agencies and maternity homes and providing free services including counseling, parenting help, diapers, formula and job training to mothers who want to keep their babies,” he said.

The archbishop primarily emphasized the importance of Catholics speaking out against abortion and urged Catholics to particularly challenge Catholic politicians who support laws favoring abortion.

“You cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings,” he said.


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BANNON’S WAR ROOM – September 10, 2021

One of the few bishops to have spoken is Archbishop Cordileone


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ACI DIGITAL – September 10, 2021

Qualificando o aborto como “o mais urgente desafio de direitos humanos de nosso tempo”, o arcebispo de São Francisco, EUA, dom Salvatore Cordileone levantou a excomunhão de católicos segregacionistas no início dos anos 1960 como exemplo de reação legítima contra políticos católicos que apoiam “um grande mal moral.”

Em artigo de opinião publicado no jornal The Washington Post, o arcebispo atacou declarações recentes de políticos católicos contra a lei aprovada no Texas que proíbe abortos assim que o batimento cardíaco do bebê puder ser detectado.


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CHRISTIAN POST – September 10, 2021

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s archbishop is defending a pro-life law that went into effect in Texas and doubling down on his previous assertions that Catholics in good standing cannot support abortion.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post illustrating “Our duty to challenge Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.” Cordileone, who oversees territory that includes the area Pelosi represents in the Congress, called her out as one of several Catholic politicians who support a practice that directly contradicts the church’s teaching.


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RELEVANT RADIO – September 10, 2021

His Excellency Archbishop Cordileone stops by to discuss his recent article about when the Church has used excommunication against public figures for grave misuse of their faith


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EWTN NEWS NIGHTLY – September 10, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, recently wrote, in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, about the politics of abortion and how he feels it parallels the institutional racial discrimination of the past. Archbishop Cordileone talks about that and why he felt it was so important to speak out. He also wrote about how the Texas Heartbeat Law “got it right” by providing funding to support mothers and children. The archbishop of San Francisco discusses the options for women with unexpected pregnancies. Earlier this year, bishops debated over whether or not politicians who publicly support and advocate for access to abortions should be allowed to receive Holy Communion. He responds to claims that the bishops are “weaponizing the Eucharist.” He also shares his thoughts on excommunicating Catholic public figures who support abortions.


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NATIONAL REVIEW – September 8, 2021

San Francisco archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Sunday shared a message to Catholics like President Joe Biden and House speaker Nancy Pelosi who have condemned Texas’s new abortion law: “You cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings.”


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THE CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH – September 8, 2021

Calling abortion “the most pressing human rights challenge of our time,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone on Sunday invoked the excommunication of prominent Catholic segregationists in the early 1960s as an example of a legitimate response to Catholics politicians who support “a great moral evil.”


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THE FEDERALIST – September 8, 2021

Pastors who “speak softly” about the brutal murder of more than 60 million children should instead mimic Catholic leaders who boldly challenged racial segregation in the 1950s, said the Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore J. Cordileone.


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EURASIA REVIEW – September 8, 2021

Calling abortion “the most pressing human rights challenge of our time,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone on Sunday invoked the excommunication of prominent Catholic segregationists in the early 1960s as an example of a legitimate response to Catholics politicians who support “a great moral evil.”


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POLSKIE RADIO – September 8, 2021

W tekście na łamach waszyngtońskiego dziennika Cordileone zwrócił uwagę na “hiperboliczne” jego zdaniem reakcje dwóch katolickich polityków na teksańskie prawo, prezydenta Joe Bidena i spikerkę Izby Reprezentantów Nancy Pelosi, którzy ostro potępili ustawę należącą do najbardziej restrykcyjnych w kraju.


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DO RZECZY – September 8, 2021

Metropolita San Francisco, abp Salvatore Cordileone, należy do tej części amerykańskiego episkopatu, która podniosła kwestię stosowania katolickiego nauczania i Kodeksu prawa kanonicznego wobec polityków uważających się za katolików i wyznających poglądy rażąco odbiegające od katolickiej ortodoksji.


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NEWS 24 – September 8, 2021

L’archevêque de San Francisco s’élève contre le président Joe Biden, la présidente de la Chambre Nancy Pelosi et d’autres politiciens catholiques qui ont attaqué la nouvelle loi sur l’avortement au Texas, suggérant qu’ils violaient la doctrine fondamentale de l’église.


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BREITBART – September 8, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has publicly called out Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joe Biden for supporting abortion while claiming to be devout Catholics.


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CBN NEWS – September 8, 2021

Salvatore Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco, says it is the duty of Catholic leaders to challenge Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

In an op-ed published by The Washington Post on Sunday, Cordileone said, “You cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings.”


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DAILY CALLER– September 8, 2021

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone emphasized Sunday that Catholics have a duty to challenge pro-abortion politicians like President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Late Wednesday night, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to deny abortion providers’ requests to block Texas’ new law banning abortion after 6 weeks. Both Biden and Pelosi issued statements condemning the Supreme Court ruling and the Texas law and promising to take action to reverse the pro-life legislation.


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ONE AMERICA NEWS NETWORK– September 7, 2021

The archbishop of San Francisco condemned “self-proclaimed Catholics” Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for their hypocritical support of abortion. In a recent op-ed, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone defended Texas’s ban on abortions after six weeks.

Cordileone characterized abortion as the “preeminent human rights issues of our time” and said more than 60 million lives have been lost to abortion since the Roe vs. Wade decision. He added pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion.

“You cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings,” he stated. “The answer to crisis pregnancies is not violence but love, for both mother and child.”


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Fox and Friends – January 24, 2021

Rebukes Nancy Pelosi’s Critique of Pro-Life Voters


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KPIX-5 – November 30, 2020

Five people arrested for damaging and tearing down a statue of Saint Junipero Serra last month at the Mission San Rafael Arcángel now face felony vandalism charges.


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ESNE TV – September 24, 2020


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The Catholic Talk Show – September 21, 2020


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Gateway Pundit – September 20, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco condemned “self-proclaimed Catholics” Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for their hypocritical support of abortion. In a recent op-ed, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone defended Texas’s ban on abortions after six weeks.

Cordileone characterized abortion as the “preeminent human rights issues of our time” and said more than 60 million lives have been lost to abortion since the Roe vs. Wade decision. He added pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion.

“You cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings,” he stated. “The answer to crisis pregnancies is not violence but love, for both mother and child.”


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CBS Bay Area – September 20, 2020

San Francisco Catholics Stage ‘Free The Mass’ March; Demand Easing Of COVID Limits Placed On Worship Services


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Fox & Friends – September 20, 2020

Archbishop calls out California leaders for keeping church services to 12 people


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Telemundo 48 – September 20, 2020

El Arzobispo hizo un llamado a los feligreses para que participen en una procesión para pedir que se flexibilicen las restricciones que tiene la iglesia


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Univision – September 18, 2020

Arquidiócesis de San Francisco desafía a la alcaldesa y convoca a marcha para reabrir las iglesias by Victor Solis


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Univision – September 18, 2020

Convocan a marcha para reabrir las iglesias en San Francisco


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Father Mark Goring – September 16, 2020

“FREE THE MASS” in San Francisco! by Fr. Mark Goring


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The World Over with Raymond Arroyo – September 10, 2020

Most Rev Salvatore Cordileone with Raymond Arroyo


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The World Over with Raymond Arroyo – September 10, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone with Raymond Arroyo


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Catholic World Report – March 21, 2021

CWR: Are you working on any new projects?

Doran: I’ve been working on short stories in vastly different genres: mystery, thriller, humor, children’s story, science fiction, historical events, dystopian, explorations of memory: inspired by very different “muses”: Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Rod Serling, Hans Christian Andersen, George Orwell, Kazuo Ishiguro, Gene Wolfe, Flannery O’Connor, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis.

One of these stories, “Mr. Tanner”, will soon be published by Catholic Arts Today. Perhaps the collection of stories will be published someday. Regardless, composing these tales has been a joy and a challenge.


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Fox News – January 27, 2021

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone joins ‘Fox News @ Night’ to discuss Democrats’ calls for ‘unity.’

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Breitbart – February 6, 2021

The theme for National Marriage Week 2021, “To Have, To Hold, To Honor,” was announced by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

Last October, Archbishop Cordileone reiterated Catholic teaching that civil unions “can in no way be equated to marriage, which remains unique.”

“I would add that a civil union of this type (one which is not equated to marriage) should be as inclusive as possible, and not be restricted to two people of the same sex in a presumed sexual relationship.”

“There is no reason, for example, why a brother and a sister, both of whom are unmarried and support each other, should not have access to these kinds of benefits,” he added.

The archbishop noted that marriage is “unique because it is the only institution that connects children to their mothers and fathers, and therefore is presumed to be a sexual relationship.”

“The nature of marriage, the place of sex within a virtuous life, these great teachings of the Church come to us from God, are illuminated by reason, and do not change,” he said.


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Aleteia – February 5, 2021

The Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone, has proclaimed a “Year for the Homeless” in his California archdiocese.

The year will be one in which Catholics are asked to focus on, pray for and find ways to support the homeless in their midst.

And, as Pope Francis recently offered a special Mass for a homeless Nigerian man who died on the street not far from St. Peter’s Square, Archbishop Cordileone will celebrate a service for people who have died homeless. But he will take it one step further. He has commissioned a composer to write music for the Mass.


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Catholic News Agency – February 1, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, in an interview with EWTN Pro-Life Weekly last week, said that Communion can be withheld from someone “for the sake of their soul” but only after “private conversations to try to move the person in their conscience” have taken place.

Furthermore, he added, Catholics must recover the “bigger picture” of “worthiness to receive Communion,” and “to be in the state of grace.”


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National Catholic Register – January 28, 2021

“Equality.” It’s a deeply ingrained American ideal and even a national passion. How ironic, then, that since the COVID-19 pandemic struck almost a year ago now, governments have taken it upon themselves to decide who is essential, and therefore by contrast, who is dispensable.

“Essential worker” and “essential service” are categories that are deeply alien to our ideals, but for the first time in the history of our country the government is deciding which services – and therefore which workers – are essential to society. Everyone else loses out. So, for example, we’ve watched governments this past year decide that liquor stores are more important than worship, and issue edicts that ruin the lives and livelihoods of hard-working people with no clear scientific data to back it up.

“Follow the science” is another cliché we hear bandied about quite a bit nowadays. It’s curious, though, how both science and equality are abandoned when they become inconvenient. But the most blatant example of denying the science to endorse inequality is abortion. It is science, not faith, that teaches us that human life begins at conception.

There is no scientific justification for failing to recognize that an unborn child is a human life, and therefore no legal, much less moral, justification for denying that unborn child’s equal human dignity. And yet, since so many politicians rely on the favorable ratings and donations of abortion proponents, they continue to endorse policies that deny not only science and equality, but also real choice to women in crisis pregnancies. This insures that abortion remains the go-to solution, thus bolstering sales for the abortion industry. So follow the money: what this is really about is money, power and prestige.

How often those of us in pastoral ministry have heard women say, “I didn’t want to go through with it, but I felt like I had no choice.” Indeed, experience shows that when women are given real choice, that is, both the practical and moral support they need during challenging pregnancies, including information (e.g., about fetal development and simply what the other options are), the vast majority of women choose life, not death.

If equality means anything, it means treating each human life as equally valued, and not creating what Pope Francis calls a “throwaway culture,” where some lives matter more than others – and that includes babies in the womb and their mothers who are searching for life-giving solutions. Faith gives us the anchor to see through apparent differences in human usefulness or costliness to affirm that none of us is more essential than any of the rest of us.

However often we as a nation fail to live up to these core ideals, the words of the Declaration of Independence call us back:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Our founding document declares that these principles are self-evident and unalienable: that is, fundamental human rights come from God, not from government. They are inherent and apply to each of us equally, not just to special classes favored by the government. And the order of listing here is very deliberate: the right to life is the foundation, for if that is removed, all other rights evaporate a fortiori.

That is why, on Jan. 29, once again Americans will come together for the March for Life in Washington, D.C., albeit this year virtually. Others will join, or have joined, in one of 25 sister marches or walks or car parades for life throughout the United States. This is why I myself walked with the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco on Jan. 23.

Before God, differences in rank, race, beauty, intelligence, humor, talent, health, and everything else the world values fade in comparison to the equal dignity inherent in each human being.

And so this January once again we march.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone serves as the Archbishop of San Francisco.


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National Catholic Register – January 26, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of Pelosi’s home archdiocese of San Francisco replied to this in a statement Thursday, saying, “Nancy Pelosi does not speak for the Catholic Church. She speaks as a high-level important government leader, and as a private citizen. And on the question of the equal dignity of human life in the womb, she also speaks in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years.”

“There are many issues of very grave moral consequence that Catholics must weigh in good conscience when they vote,” he said. “But one thing is clear: No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion. ‘Right to choose’ is a smokescreen for perpetuating an entire industry that profits from one of the most heinous evils imaginable. Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop.”


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Catholic News Agency – January 27, 2021

In an interview discussing his recent admonition of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco emphasized the need for Catholics to recover the sense of worthiness to receive Holy Communion.

“Catholics no longer understand the idea of worthiness to receive Communion. It’s just seen as a sort of a token gesture of welcome and belonging,” Cordileone told EWTN Pro-Life Weekly in an interview that will air on Thursday night.

The archbishop was addressing the topic of denial of Holy Communion to someone “for the sake of their soul.” He said that Catholics must first understand the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist in order to grasp the significance of the denial of Holy Communion to a public figure.


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Associated Press – January 26, 2021

Among those welcoming the bishops’ declaration was Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage.

″ I am appreciative of this reaffirmation of the Church’s care for those who are struggling with sexual identity issues, especially when they are targets of bullying and suffer rejection even from the very ones who should love and support them,” he said via email. “The Church stands in solidarity with them, and all of her children, to help them live a life of virtue.”


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Fox & Friends – January 24, 2021

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Joseph Cordileone comments on Speaker Pelosi’s criticism of Trump-backers against abortion

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ABC7 – January 23, 2021

Hundreds of worshipers were gathered inside St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco despite California’s COVID-19 health order banning indoor services. The Archbishop said a threat of violence prompted the move.

It was a strange sight in the midst of our pandemic as hundreds of worshipers gathered inside the church for a special Saturday mass prior to the West Coast Walk for Life.


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Crux – January 23, 2021

When they vote, Catholics must weigh many issues of very grave moral consequence “in good conscience,” but “no Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion,” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said Jan. 21.

“‘Right to choose’ is a smokescreen for perpetuating an entire industry that profits from one of the most heinous evils imaginable,” he said in a statement. “Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop.”

Cordileone’s remarks came in response to comments by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, during a Jan. 18 episode of a podcast hosted by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democrats’ 2016 presidential nominee.


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America – January 22, 2021

On Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, Archbishop Cordilione will celebrate a live streamed Mass for the legal protection of unborn children at St. Mary’s Cathedral. He will also lead a webinar that day with other pro-life leaders to “reflect on the accomplishments and challenges facing the pro-life movement.” The Dominican Friars will also livestream Vespers and Mass that day at St. Dominic Church.


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Fox News – January 22, 2021

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco issued a scathing statement Thursday in which he accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of impugning the motives of anti-abortion voters — and described her remarks on abortion as “in direct contradiction” of Church teaching.

“To begin with the obvious: Nancy Pelosi does not speak for the Catholic Church. She speaks as a high-level important government leader, and as a private citizen,’ Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a statement. “And on the question of the equal dignity of human life in the womb, she also speaks in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years.”


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National Catholic Reporter – January 21, 2021

Gomez’s statement was quickly endorsed and shared by a number of prelates, including San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, whose press officer sent out a statement under the headline “+Cordileone praises +Gomez: abortion is ‘preeminent priority’ ” and the Knights of Columbus, which described the statement as “balanced and prophetic.”


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Christian Post – January 21, 2021

Pelosi’s remarks drew the ire of Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, who issued a statement Thursday saying that Pelosi does not speak for the Catholic Church.

“And on the question of the equal dignity of human life in the womb, she also speaks in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years,” Cordileone stated. “Christians have always understood that the commandment, ‘Thou shall not kill,’ applies to all life, including life in the womb.”


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ACI Prensa – January 21, 2021

El Arzobispo de San Francisco (Estados Unidos), Mons. Salvatore Cordileone, respondió a la presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes, Nancy Pelosi, afirmando que “ningún católico en conciencia puede favorecer el aborto”.

El Prelado respondió así a los ataques de Pelosi del 18 de enero en un podcast con Hillary Clinton en el que sugirió que evangélicos y católicos provida opuestos al aborto hicieron que Donald Trump llegara a ser presidente, algo que le “da mucha pena como católica”.


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Catholic News Agency – January 21, 2021

As the United States undergoes a transition in leadership, the Archdiocese of San Francisco will host a webinar this week discussing the future of the pro-life movement.

The webinar takes place on Jan. 22 with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco; Marjorie Dannenfelser, founder and president of the Susan B Anthony List; and Charles Camosy, associate professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University.


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ACI Digital – January 21, 2021

O Arcebispo de San Francisco, Dom Salvatore Cordileone, destacou a mensagem que a Conferência dos Bispos Católicos dos Estados Unidos (USCCB) dirigiu ao novo presidente Joe Biden, na qual assinalou que para a Igreja se opor à injustiça do aborto é uma “prioridade preeminente”.


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Life News – January 21, 2021

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Catholic bishop issued a strong statement condemning her pro-abortion stance Thursday, saying the congresswoman is supporting “one of the most heinous evils imaginable.”

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco responded to Pelosi after she slammed pro-life voters Monday for “being willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue,” abortion. Pelosi, a pro-abortion Democrat who represents San Francisco in Congress, said their votes caused her “great grief as a Catholic.”

In a statement Thursday, Cordileone said Pelosi does not speak for the Catholic Church, and her abortion advocacy contradicts one of its most fundamental teachings.

“Christians have always understood that the commandment, ‘Thou shall not kill,’ applies to all life, including life in the womb,” the archbishop said. “Around the end of the first century the Letter of Barnabas states: ‘You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shall you destroy it after it is born.’”

Cordileone also quoted Pope Francis who, in 2019, said eliminating a human life in an abortion is never the answer to any problem.


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Catholic News Agency – January 21, 2021

On Thursday, Pelosi’s archbishop responded to her comments on abortion and voting.

“No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion,” said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Pelosi’s home diocese, in a statement issued on Thursday. “Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop.”


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Breitbart – January 21, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, on the contrary, praised the Bishops’ statement, expressing his gratitude toward Archbishop José Gomez, the president of the Bishops’ Conference, for the clarity of the message.

“In particular, I am grateful to him for stating clearly once again that opposing the injustice of abortion remains our ‘preeminent priority,’ while acknowledging that ‘preeminent’ does not mean ‘only,’” Archbishop Cordileone stated.

“Catholics must and do speak out on many issues affecting the equal dignity of us all, but if life at its most vulnerable beginnings is not protected, then none of us is safe,” Cordileone said. “Affirming this equal human dignity at every stage and in every condition is the path to healing and unity.”


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Contextdose la Palabra – January 7, 2021

Por su parte, el Arzobispo de San Francisco, California,Salvatore Cordileone,señaló que “atacar el Capitolio (…) para expresar su temor de que la democracia haya sido negada es equivocado y también contraproducente. Las dudas sobre elecciones libres y justas no se pueden remediar con violencia contra las instituciones democráticas”.


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National Catholic Register – January 8, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, for instance, told the Register in a December interview he has been struck by how questions concerning the efficacy of wearing masks to mitigate the spread of COVID, which would normally be resolvable by empiricism and objectivity, have instead become politicized.


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National Catholic Register – January 8, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco agreed. “To attack the U.S. Capitol to express your fear that democracy has been denied is wrong, and also counterproductive,” he said in a Jan. 6 statement. “Doubts about free and fair elections cannot be redressed by violence against our democratic institutions.”


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Fox News – December 9, 2020

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone tells ‘America’s Newsroom’ it is very worrisome that the state of California is ‘intruding’ its authority in areas of church matters where they don’t have authority.


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EWTN News Nightly – January 7, 2021

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco is also speaking out about the violence that occurred Wednesday. Archbishop Cordileone joins to discuss what went through his mind and what his message would be to the people behind the attacks. The archbishop explains how to foster unity and move forward in a moment where the nation is deeply divided on so many issues. He shares his words of advice and comfort for the faithful during this tumultuous time.


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Hawaii Catholic Herald – January 6, 2021

Catholics, especially, have a communal and sacramental faith, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church observes (Nos. 2177-83). When we gather for Mass, we are more fully the church, and we receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ to help us live as members of his body. To quote Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, “The sacraments as we Catholics understand them cannot be livestreamed.”


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Church Militant – December 10, 2020

A bishop is criticizing restrictions on worship in California.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone says the archdiocese of San Francisco has developed “safety protocols that are effective” and “scientifically shown” to deter the spread of the Wuhan virus.

“We’re still not allowed to have indoor services, while indoor retail is allowed to operate,” Cordileone told Fox News’ Sandra Smith on Wednesday.

He went on to say, “I accept the need for the State to give us guidance on safety, but we’ve shown we can do it. We should be allowed to do it.”


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KQED – December 10, 2020

San Francisco’s archbishop came out strongly in support of a recent Supreme Court ruling that challenges Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pandemic-related restrictions on indoor church services.

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The Blaze – December 9, 2020

As a court date nears for five people charged with the toppling of a Junipero Serra statue at a California church in October, thousands have signed a petition calling for the Marin County district attorney to drop felony charges filed against them.

The defendants — Melissa Aguilar, Mayorgi Nadieska Delgadillo, Victoria Eva Montano Pena, Moira Van De Walker and Andrew Lester Mendle — are each facing one count of felony vandalism for leveling the statue at Mission San Rafael Arcángel in San Rafael, north of San Francisco, according to a complaint filed Nov. 12 and provided to Religion News Service by the Marin County District Attorney’s Office.


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Religion News Service – December 9, 2020

As a court date nears for five people charged with the toppling of a Junipero Serra statue at a California church in October, thousands have signed a petition calling for the Marin County district attorney to drop felony charges filed against them.

The defendants — Melissa Aguilar, Mayorgi Nadieska Delgadillo, Victoria Eva Montano Pena, Moira Van De Walker and Andrew Lester Mendle — are each facing one count of felony vandalism for leveling the statue at Mission San Rafael Arcángel in San Rafael, north of San Francisco, according to a complaint filed Nov. 12 and provided to Religion News Service by the Marin County District Attorney’s Office.


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National Catholic Register – December 9, 2020

“Religious freedom is a fundamental right; it’s protected by the first amendment of the consititution. It’s not given by the first amendment, it’s protected by the first amendment,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.

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Fox and Friends – September 20, 2020

“Religious freedom is a fundamental right; it’s protected by the first amendment of the consititution. It’s not given by the first amendment, it’s protected by the first amendment,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.

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National Catholic Reporter – December 7, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has faced several challenges since he became archbishop of San Francisco in 2012. They include a Supreme Court decision nullifying the Defense of Marriage Act that he championed; his failure to extract loyalty oaths on Catholic doctrine in hiring Catholic high school teachers; heavy blowback on his views on homosexuality; and his opposition to restrictions on Catholic worship he calls the work of “secular elites.”

But his latest battle is against Satan, who he calls “the evil one.” Cordileone performed the rite of exorcism as a response to the removal of statues of Franciscan missionary Junípero Serra at Golden Gate Park June 19, and later at Mission San Rafael, north of San Francisco on Oct. 12.


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Univision – December 6, 2020

El arzobispo de San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, volvió a arremeter contra el gobierno municipal y advirtió que la Arquidiócesis analiza sus “opciones legales” para reabrir las iglesias, luego de que las autoridades de salud se vieron obligadas una vez más a cerrarlas ante el dramático aumento de casos de coronavirus.

El líder religioso dijo que la medida le niega los feligreses su “derecho natural y constitucional al culto religioso”, además de que acusó a la administración local de haber degradado la libertad de culto al mismo nivel de “comprar zapatos” o “ver una película”.


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KQED – December 4, 2020

The U.S. Supreme Court intervened Thursday on behalf of several California churches who are petitioning to be allowed to hold indoor services despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s public health orders limiting them during the pandemic. With tighter restrictions looming statewide this month, we talk to church leaders about why they believe conducting indoor services is important.

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Gospel Prime – December 4, 2020

O governador democrata da Califórnia, Gavin Newsom, está sendo criticado por ignorar a decisão da Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos em relação às restrições severas de cultos impostas em Nova York.

Newsom não conteve outras reuniões como eventos esportivos, protestos ou mesmo as produções de filmes de Hollywood, porém alguns relatos mostraram que as igrejas e outros locais de cultos são alvos sobre as restrições mais apertadas.


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ACI Prensa – December 4, 2020

El Arzobispo de San Francisco, Mons. Salvatore Cordileone, solicitó al estado de California que aplique un reciente fallo de la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos en contra de las restricciones a las iglesias a causa del COVID-19, lo que permitiría el culto público y las Misas en Navidad.

En un comunicado publicado por la Arquidiócesis de San Francisco el 3 de diciembre, el Prelado dijo que en la decisión de la Corte Suprema del 26 de noviembre, el alto tribunal “claramente dictaminó que los gobiernos no pueden favorecer las actividades seculares en interiores, como el comercio minorista, por encima del culto. Las mismas restricciones deben aplicarse, como mínimo, a ambos”.


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KPIX 5 – December 2, 2020

With new COVID cases soaring and indoor religious services banned across the San Francisco Bay Area, the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday ordered a lower federal court to reexamine the state’s COVID restrictions on religious services in areas hard hit by the coronavirus.


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National Catholic Register – December 2, 2020

Worship remains severely restricted in California, where the faithful are barred from attending any indoor Masses in Los Angeles County. Farther north in San Francisco, less restrictive provisions are currently in place only because Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone launched a campaign to “Free the Mass,” which eventually led to archdiocesan churches in the city being allowed to have 100 participants each Mass.

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Univision – December 2, 2020

El presidente electo Joe Biden prometió en su campaña que daría un camino de ciudadanía a millones de indocumentados que viven en el país. Una experta del Centro Legal La Raza nos habla sobre el plan migratorio.

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EWTN – December 2, 2020

El Arzobispo de San Francisco, Monseñor Salvatore Cordileone,
nos hablará sobre las nuevas restricciones que se han tomado en el área de San Francisco por la pandemia.

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Telemundo – December 1, 2020

Oficiales de salud del Condado Santa Clara siguen preocupados por el repuente de contagios por COVID-19. En una conferencia de prensa, brindaron detalles acerca del aumento de casos y un plan de contingencia. Andrés Brender reporta.

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Univision – December 1, 2020

El Distrito Escolar Unificado de San Francisco informó que ofrecerá comida gratis a partir de esta semana a todos los niños que viven en San Francisco. Le decimos dónde y cuándo obtener esta ayuda.

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Crux – November 30, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco described as “blatant discrimination” a return by California to more severe COVID-19 restrictions that closed churches in two of the three counties that comprise the San Francisco Archdiocese.

On Nov. 29, the First Sunday of Advent, Catholic churches in San Francisco and San Mateo counties had to be closed as of noon.


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The John Rothman Show – November 30, 2020


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MSN – November 30, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco said he may pursue legal action after the purple tier designation of two more Bay Area counties — San Francisco and San Mateo — which restricts houses of worship to outdoor services in two of the three counties that make up the archdiocese.


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ABC7 News – November 30, 2020

New purple tier COVID-19 restrictions took effect Sunday in San Francisco.

San Francisco Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone ended the last indoor, in-person mass for a while at St. Mary’s Cathedral — he wasn’t pleased.

“We’re a sacramental church, you can’t live stream holy communion,” said Cordileone.


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Hispanidad – November 30, 2020

El Arzobispo de San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, ha criticado el cierre de las iglesias con la excusa de peligro de contagio por la pandemia del coronavirus, publica Aciprensa.

A su juicio: “Este es precisamente el tipo de discriminación flagrante a la que la Corte Suprema otorgó medidas cautelares en Nueva York. El gobierno está degradando la adoración al mismo nivel que ver una película: ‘no esencial’. Pero el servicio religioso es un derecho natural y constitucional. Mi pueblo quiere recibir el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo; lo necesitan y tienen todo el derecho a ser libres para hacerlo”.


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Univision – November 30, 2020

Los condados de San Francisco y San Mateo retrocedieron a la fase morada de reapertura, la cual los obliga a cerrar de nuevo gimnasios, iglesias, cines y restaurantes que operaban a puerta cerrada. Mientras que en Santa Clara endurecieron el límite de clientes en tiendas minoristas y prohibieron todos los deportes de contacto, tanto profesionales como amateur.

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ACI Prensa – November 29, 2020

Dado que el aumento de casos de coronavirus en el área de San Francisco ha llevado a nuevas restricciones como el cierre de iglesias, el Arzobispo Salvatore Cordileone denunció que esta medida es discriminatoria y viola el derecho natural y constitucional a la libertad de culto.


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San Francisco Chronicle – November 29, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco said he may pursue legal action after the purple tier designation of two more Bay Area counties — San Francisco and San Mateo — which restricts houses of worship to outdoor services in two of the three counties that make up the archdiocese.

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Catholic News Agency – November 28, 2020

As surging COVID-19 cases lead to new restrictions in the San Francisco area, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said the treatment of churches is discriminatory and violates the right to worship.

“[W]orship is both a natural and a Constitutional right. My people want to receive the Body and Blood of Christ; they need it, and have every right to be free to do so,” the archbishop said in a November 28 statement.

He criticized a new health order from the state of California placing San Francisco and San Mateo Counties into a more restrictive tier of coronavirus restrictions, resulting in a ban on indoor worship services.


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Marin Independent Journal – November 23, 2020

Like all people of good will, I was appalled to learn the news.

The Marin Museum of the American Indian received mailed threats that included the words “smallpox” and “anthrax” on the envelopes, and also received racist emails referring to the Junipero Serra statue in Mission San Rafael. This is sad, outrageous and also ignorant.

As Sacheen Littlefeather, a Marin resident who chairs the local Kateri Tekakwitha Prayer Circle, pointed out: No federally recognized Native American Indians residing in Marin County participated in the destruction of the statue.

“It’s deadly stuff and the genocide runs very, very deep, and people’s fear of that runs very, very deep,” museum director Doug Fryday told the Marin Independent Journal in the article published Nov. 16.

Serra would never have countenanced his name being misused in this way to further this kind of hatred. He stood for sacrifice, reconciliation, service and love, to the point of heroic virtue, which is why Pope Francis made him a saint.

But we do not even have to agree on Serra’s legacy to understand that threats of violence cannot lead to a civilization of love or peace. Only if we believe, with Serra, that every human being has equal dignity will we be able to move beyond past injustices to a better, fairer and more compassionate future.

Our nation’s founders called it “self-evident” that “all men are created equal,” before declaring all people are “endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights.” From America’s beginning, then, we recognized that our faith in equality is immeasurably strengthened by faith of another kind: that it is God himself who grants us this equal human dignity.

Sadly, though, it is a faith we often lose sight of. Leland Stanford was an abolitionist, who helped build the first transcontinental railroad, and also founded the great university that bears his name. He also, as governor of California, endorsed using taxpayer funds to pay a special corps of “California volunteers” to exterminate Indians. As is well known, our Founding Fathers who fought to establish this great republic, owned slaves – even George Washington himself, who waited only until his death to free them.

But 66 years later, some 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War meant to eradicate this sin in every state of the union. Our history is filled with both lights and shadows.

Blaming Catholics such as Serra for enslaving Indians is fundamentally ignorant. Almost 250 years before the Declaration of Independence, Pope Paul III specifically forbade the Spanish colonists in America to enslave the Indigineous people. Why? Because they are human beings, and human beings have rights, given by God.

“The said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no mean to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ … nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect,” the Pope decreed in “Sublimus Deus” in 1537.

An ocean away, the Spanish colonists often ignored what our Catholic faith teaches by abusing Indigenous people.
According to archaeological research published by Ruben Mendoza, a professor at Cal State Monterey Bay who half Yaqui Indian, the systemic genocide did not take place until after the Franciscan missions founded by Serra were dismantled, the Spanish government withdrew, and the Americans took control of California.

On behalf of Catholics in Marin County and the rest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, I repudiate these hateful words and thoughts, and pray that the writer (and all perpetrators of bigotry) repent and find healing.

We send our support and heartfelt sympathy to the Marin Museum of the American Indian, and all Indigenous people living in Marin County who have been unjustly attacked for this crime, one in which they had no part.
I heartily endorse Fryday’s idea of listening sessions together to defuse any tensions and misconceptions that remain, and we offer to work with him and California Indians towards the important goals of civility, equal dignity, and harmony.


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First Things – November 22, 2020

This year, Americans have endured not only the intertwined economic, health, and political crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a deep spiritual shock. For the first time since the Spanish Flu of 1918, our local and state governments have restricted worship services. And while the Word can be livestreamed, the Eucharist cannot.

I am well aware that this spiritual crisis has intensified the concern that faithful Catholics have about their leaders. When I launched an ultimately successful campaign to “free the Mass” in San Francisco, Philip Lawler wrote, “Why ask city officials to ‘free’ the Mass? There is only one man who has the rightful authority to restrict and regulate the liturgy of the Catholic Church in San Francisco, and his name is Cordileone.”

The best way to answer Lawler’s question is to tell the story of how I started the movement to Free the Mass. Like most bishops, my first response to a novel virus whose fatality rates were then unknown was to cooperate with public authorities to “flatten the curve.” The stated rationale was to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed. Given what was happening in New York City and Italy, this appeared rational.

I did not accept the state’s authority to shut down worship services. I made these decisions. I am responsible for them. Priests continued to celebrate Mass, though the lay faithful were no longer permitted to attend. I encouraged pastors to livestream and reach out in other creative ways if they could (and many have). This was a twenty-first-century version of what St. Charles Borromeo did during the plague of 1576; when the churches of Milan were closed, he set up outdoor altars so people could see that the Mass was still taking place.


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CBS Bay Area – November 20, 2020

San Francisco archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a statement Friday saying in part “Let us hope that this prosecution will nonetheless contribute to putting an end to attacks on all houses of worship.”


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Catholic Culture – November 20, 2020

Here’s the question—THE question—that’s on my mind these days: As governors continue to impose tight restrictions on churches, when will Catholic bishops encourage civil disobedience?

Archbishop Sample of Portland seems to have answered that question, saying it’s not going to happen.” Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco sends a different message: “I’m taking no options off the table.”


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Wall Street Journal – November 20, 2020

Religious leaders in Europe and the U.S. are pushing back harder against coronavirus restrictions than during the pandemic’s first wave, invoking their right to religious freedom and arguing churches are safe.

Protests in France and Britain, where bans on communal worship are now in place, have brought governments to the negotiating table with religious leaders. The Catholic diocese of Brooklyn, one of the largest in the U.S., is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court against numerical limits on worshipers.

Church leaders were largely deferential during the spring lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19. Many are taking a different tack now, convinced churches shouldn’t be treated more strictly than secular activities.

“We have demonstrated, by our action, that places of worship and public worship can be made safe from Covid transmission,” wrote a group of British faith leaders to Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this month.

Some major European countries that imposed worship bans in the spring, including Germany, Italy and Spain, haven’t so far done so again. But many governments say restrictions on collective worship are necessary to halt the strong increase of infections, hospitalizations and deaths from Covid-19 that has swept across most Western countries this fall. In the U.S., jurisdictions are imposing attendance limitations of varying degrees depending on the local severity of the surge.

A study this summer by Johns Hopkins University researchers found that people who had visited a house of worship three or more times in the previous two weeks reported coronavirus infections 16 times as often as those who hadn’t visited. The study didn’t distinguish between visits to churches for worship or other purposes such as meals.

That hasn’t satisfied religious groups, who argue they are being unjustly targeted.

The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court this month to hear its case against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, arguing that government rules that impose caps of as low as 10 persons per Mass depending on rates of infection violate the church’s First-Amendment rights. Also this month, a group of Orthodox Jewish organizations in New York petitioned the court challenging the same policy, which they said “targets religious institutions for adverse treatment.”

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The state replied on Wednesday, arguing it is treating indoor religious gatherings more favorably than comparably risky secular activities, such as bowling alleys, arcades, movie theaters and fitness centers, which have been fully shut down in some areas at moments of peak infection.

The court, which hasn’t said it would hear the case, ruled twice this year, both times by a vote of 5-4, against relaxing anti-contagion restrictions on worship. But the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett last month has expanded the court’s conservative majority.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito voiced concern this month about restrictions on public worship and other activities he said would ordinarily be protected by the First Amendment.

“The pandemic has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty,” Justice Alito said.

U.S. restrictions on church attendance vary by place and religious groups hold different attitudes toward them.

A study this summer by the Pew Research Center found Evangelical Protestants and Catholics more likely than other U.S. Christians to favor reopening churches during the pandemic.

The Catholic Church, the largest U.S. denomination, shut down communal worship across the country in March, often voluntarily. But in late spring, as business reopened, bishops in Wisconsin and Minnesota successfully challenged what they deemed unfairly strict caps on attendance.

In September, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco led a procession through the city’s Mission District against the mayor’s plan to cap church attendance at 25 people. The city now sets the limit at 25% of a church’s capacity, up to 100 people.

Religious groups are putting up more resistance in Europe too.

France’s Catholic bishops didn’t publicly protest the first national lockdown until the government announced in late April that businesses could reopen before public worship resumed. The bishops expressed regret and the “impatience of the faithful to gather together.” But some conservative Catholic groups appealed to France’s highest administrative court, which made the government allow public worship earlier than planned.

In late October, amid a resurgence of the pandemic, the French government decreed new restrictions, including a ban on communal worship, with an exception for funerals with up to 30 people, until at least Dec. 1. This time, the French bishops appealed straightaway to the same court, claiming the decree “undermines the freedom of worship which is one of the fundamental freedoms in our country.”

“The bishops were more timid [in the spring], in part because we were all still discovering this virus and didn’t know how to react,” said Antoine-Marie Izoard, editor of the Catholic magazine Famille Chrétienne. “But now, seeing that the lockdown is much lighter, the church said ‘why are we closed while businesses are open?’”

The court declined this month to change the policy, saying it was justified by the health emergency. Young Catholic activists started an online petition in protest, which has gathered more than 106,000 signatures. They also held demonstrations outside churches, which last Sunday had spread to about 30 cities, with thousands of participants.

The office of Prime Minister Jean Castex said Monday that the government and religious groups would now collaborate on guidelines to “permit the resumption of worship as soon as health conditions allow.”

In Britain, religious groups generally complied without demur with a national lockdown this spring. The Church of England, the country’s largest denomination, voluntarily closed its churches even for private prayer and told clergy not to live stream worship services from them.

This month, after the government announced a lockdown for England, including a ban on communal worship except for funerals with up to 30 people, religious leaders including Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, took another approach with their letter of protest to Mr. Johnson.

Separately, a group led by Ade Omooba, a Protestant pastor, has taken legal action against the government before the U.K.’s High Court, claiming the ban violates the country’s human rights act.

A U.K. government spokesperson said on Wednesday that the ban was “vital in tackling the spread of the virus” and that officials were working closely with senior faith leaders on the matter.

question, saying it’s not going to happen.” Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco sends a different message: “I’m taking no options off the table.”


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HuffPost – November 17, 2020

California prosecutors have charged five people for their alleged roles in toppling a statue of controversial Catholic saint Junípero Serra at a Spanish mission last month on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who has been leading his fellow Catholic bishops in the state in vocally defending Serra’s complicated legacy, called Marin County prosecutors’ decision to file felony vandalism charges last Thursday a “breakthrough moment for Catholics.”


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East Bay Times – November 15, 2020

Marin County prosecutors have filed felony vandalism charges against five people accused of tearing down a statue outside of a San Rafael church last month, but the suspects will not face hate crime charges recommended by police.
The five suspects caused at least $10,000 in damage in connection with the Oct. 12 incident at St. Raphael Catholic Church on Fifth Avenue, according to a complaint filed Thursday by the Marin County District Attorney’s Office. Under state law, vandalism is considered a felony if the damage exceeds $400.


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Catholic News Agency – November 13, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco applauded the Marin County District Attorney for filing charges over the vandalism of a statue depicting St. Junipero Serra at Mission San Rafael last month.

“This is a breakthrough moment for Catholics,” Cordileone said in a statement Friday.

He said the decision to prosecute five people on felony vandalism charges “represents the first time that any of the lawbreakers attacking statues of St. Junípero Serra and other acts of vandalism on Catholic Church property across California will be held accountable for their actions in a court of law.”


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Marin Independent Journal – November 13, 2020

Marin County prosecutors have filed felony vand alism charges against five people accused of tearing down a statue outside of a San Rafael church last month, but the suspects will not face hate crime charges recommended by police.

The five suspects caused at least $10,000 in damage in connection with the Oct. 12 incident at St. Raphael Catholic Church on Fifth Avenue, according to a complaint filed Thursday by the Marin County District Attorney’s Office. Under state law, vandalism is considered a felony if the damage exceeds $400.


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Courthouse News Service – November 13, 2020

Amid an ongoing dispute over whether statues viewed by some as symbols of racism and oppression should be taken down, five protesters were charged with felony vandalism this week for toppling an 18th century Spanish missionary’s monument at a Catholic church north of San Francisco.

The Marin County District Attorney’s Office filed charges Thursday against five people accused of splashing red paint on a 6-foot statue of Junípero Serra before knocking it down at St. Raphael Church in downtown San Rafael. The incident took place during an Oct. 12 demonstration on Columbus Day, which is celebrated as Indigenous People’s Day in nearby Berkeley and San Francisco.


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CBS San Francisco Bay Area – November 13, 2020

Five people arrested for damaging and tearing down a statue of Saint Junipero Serra last month at the Mission San Rafael Arcángel now face felony vandalism charges.

The vandals joined a group of 40 to 50 protesters Oct. 12 at Saint Raphael’s Catholic Church at 1104 Fifth Ave in San Rafael. They broke from the group’s planned protest to spray red paint on the statue before pulling it off its pedestal.

San Rafael police said officers monitored the planned protest and had worked with the Archdiocese of San Francisco to develop a response. Protesters had shared information on the protest via social media to coincide with Indigenous Peoples Day, recognized by those who object to Columbus Day commemorations.


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Catholic Culture – November 13, 2020

Back in September, when Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone began a campaign of public pressure to loosen government restrictions on the Church, I wrote ( “Two Cheers for Archbishop Cordileone”) to pose a question:

“If the archbishop thinks that the city’s restrictions are unreasonable—if he thinks that it would be safe to celebrate Mass for a larger congregation in the city’s cathedral—why doesn’t he take the obvious action? Why doesn’t he go into his own cathedral, invite the public, and celebrate Mass?”

In a phone conversation a month later, the archbishop answered my question, and his answer forced me to rethink my own position. Although I am still inclined to favor outright defiance of government restrictions on worship, he introduced some important complications in what I had considered a fairly simple argument.


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Catholic San Francisco – November 2, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco has asked the Marin County district attorney to prosecute those arrested after an Oct. 12 protest at a mission church to the “full extent of the law,” after several of the demonstrators defaced and pulled to the ground a statue of St. Junipero Serra.

“This attack on a cherished religious symbol on our own church property is not a minor property crime, but an attack on Catholics as a people,” Cordileone wrote in an Oct. 26 letter to Lori Frugoli, the Marin County district attorney.


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New York Post – October 18, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco performed an exorcism where dozens of protesters had toppled the statue of a controversial saint.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone sprinkled holy water and said prayers in Latin Saturday at the site of the fallen statue of Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-century father of the California mission system accused of brutality against Native Americans, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.


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The Week – October 18, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco performed an exorcism ceremony on Saturday outside the Saint Raphael Catholic Church in downtown San Rafael, at the spot where protesters had toppled a statue of Saint Junipero Serra earlier in the week.

Armed with holy water and Latin prayers, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed the ritual to “drive out evil and defend the image of Serra,” the Los Angeles Times reports. As Cordileone explained to the crowd of 150 who’d assembled for the ceremony, “the experts in the field tell me that Latin tends to be more effective against the devil because he doesn’t like the language of the church.”


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Marin Independent Journal – October 17, 2020

The Archbishop of San Francisco on Saturday performed an exorcism in front of a San Rafael Catholic church at the site where protesters tore down a statue of a Spanish missionary.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone held the exorcism outside of St. Raphael’s Church Saturday morning before performing Mass in honor of the 40 Days for Life movement, an anti-abortion campaign. Following Mass, pro-life supporters marched to the Planned Parenthood clinic in downtown San Rafael and said the rosary.


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SF Gate – October 17, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco performed a short exorcism ceremony Saturday outside a Catholic church where protesters had earlier toppled a statue of Father Junipero Serra, saying the ceremony was intended to drive out evil and defend the image of Serra.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed the ritual before some 150 supporters before holding a special Mass inside St. Raphael Catholic Church and an expected march to a Planned Parenthood clinic, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.


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San Francisco Chronicle – October 16, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco is holding an exorcism at a San Rafael church this weekend, where a statue of a controversial Roman Catholic saint was toppled by protesters earlier this week.


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ACI Digital – October 15, 2020

Um grupo de ativistas desfigurou com aerossol e derrubou uma estátua de São Junípero Serra na Califórnia (Estados Unidos), quando foi celebrado de forma local o “Dia dos Povos Indígenas”, na segunda-feira.

O motim que levou à destruição da estátua ocorreu em 12 de outubro na Missão São Rafael Arcanjo, em São Rafael, ao norte da Baía de São Francisco.


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Nuevo Diario – October 15, 2020

Monseñor Salvatore Cordileone, Arzobispo de San Francisco en los EE.UU., ha planeado la realización de un ritual exorcístico el próximo 17 de octubre, en el lugar en que una estatua de San Junípero Sierra fue derrumbada, exactamente la iglesia de la misión San Rafael, en San Rafael.

Solo quedaron los pies de la estatua del santo, el pasado 12 de octubre, cuando una “pequeña, violenta turba” la derribó.


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Catholic Telegraph – October 15, 2020

Catholics in California rallied in a peaceful demonstration Tuesday evening at the former site of a statue of St. Junipero Serra, which a group of activists defaced and pulled down earlier this week.

The riot at which the statue was destroyed took place Oct. 12 at Mission San Rafael Arcángel in San Rafael, CA, north of San Francisco Bay.

Father Kyle Faller, parochial vicar at the mission, led a rosary and addressed the crowd of 75-100 people Oct. 13, many of whom held signs saying “Free the Mass,” in reference to the city’s COVID-19 restrictions on public worship, which San Francisco’s archbishop has called unjust.


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NBC Bay Area – October 14, 2020

Catholic leaders gathered for a peaceful demonstration in San Rafael Tuesday with a message of forgiveness to protesters who tore down the statue of Father Junipero Serra Monday.

Serra is known for his role as the architect of California’s Mission System but some in the Native American community feel the missions led to the oppression, and even murder, of indigineous people.


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Catholic Telegraph – October 14, 2020

A group of activists near San Francisco on Monday defaced a statue of St. Junipero Serra on private property with red spray paint before tearing it from its foundation.

Serra, an 18th-century Franciscan priest and missionary, is viewed by some activists as a symbol of colonialism and of the abuses that many Native Americans suffered after contact with Europeans. However, historians say the missionary protested abuses and sought to fight colonial oppression.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Tuesday decried the “mob rule” that led to the statue of the saint being “mindlessly defaced and toppled by a small, violent mob.”


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CBS Bay Area – October 13, 2020

A group of Catholics prayed for the protesters who knocked down a statue of Junipero Serra on Monday. Don Ford talked to them about the history and significance of the saint.


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CBS Bay Area – October 13, 2020

The San Francisco Archdiocese said there would be a peaceful Catholic demonstration at the site of the statue at Saint Raphael church at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a statement Tuesday that while lingering scars from the oppression of indigenous peoples need to be healed, “vilifying a great man who sacrificed to protect the rights of the oppressed is not how we achieve this.”


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Crux – October 7, 2020

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone led between 600 and 700 people in a rosary rally through the city’s Mission District Oct. 3, the vigil of the feast of San Francisco’s patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi.

The hour-and-a-half procession ended on the grounds of the Cathedral of St. Mary, where the archbishop celebrated an outdoor Mass.

This was the 10th annual rosary rally — after it was revived on the 50th anniversary of Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton’s historic rally in Golden Gate Park.


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Catholic San Francisco – October 5, 2020

At the vigil Mass for the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Archbishop Cordileone preached about the zealous Franciscan saint’s reverence for the Eucharist and urged Catholics to imitate his example as they prepare to return to their parishes for indoor Mass.

“Francis is famous for many things, but that for which he was most zealous is often overlooked: worthy and fitting worship of the one, true God, and reverence for the body and blood of Christ,” he said.


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The Catholic Universe – October 1, 2020

The city of San Francisco is now allowing attendance for indoor worship to be 25 per cent of the capacity of a place of worship, or up to 100 people, which follows the limit set by the state of California as part of its Covid-19 safety protocols.

Following the announcement, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco called it “an important victory to savour and celebrate”.


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The Catholic Spirit – September 30, 2020

In a message issued late Sept. 29, after the city announced the change, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco called it “an important victory to savor and celebrate.”

However, he told the press, “this movement is not over. Our work and victories have just begun.” He thanked people of faith in San Francisco and “the thousands of others across the nation who are joining us at FreeTheMass.com,” a site where people can sign a petition posted in English and Spanish. To date, it has garnered 36,210 signatures.


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National Catholic Reporter – September 29, 2020

As of Sept. 30, the city of San Francisco is allowing attendance for indoor worship to be 25% of the capacity of a house of worship, or up to 100 people, which follows the limit set by the state of California as part of its COVID-19 safety protocols.

In a message issued late Sept. 29, after the city announced the change, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco called it “an important victory to savor and celebrate.”

However, he told the press, “this movement is not over. Our work and victories have just begun.” He thanked people of faith in San Francisco and “the thousands of others across the nation who are joining us at FreeTheMass.com,” a site where people can sign a petition posted in English and Spanish. To date, it has garnered 36,210 signatures.


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Angelus – September 29, 2020

The office of San Francisco’s mayor announced Tuesday that places of worship will be permitted to hold services indoors at 25% capacity, up to 100 people, beginning Wednesday.

Restaurants will also be allowed to reopen for indoor dining at 25% capacity, up to 100 people.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco thanked the mayor, as well as the thousands of Catholics who urged that they be permitted to attend Mass.


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The Tablet – September 29, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco thanked the U.S. Department of Justice for its three-page letter sent Sept. 25 to Mayor London Breed calling on her to “promptly” end discriminating against religious believers by loosening the city’s harsh restrictions on houses of worship.

“I am very grateful to the Department of Justice for this letter calling on Mayor London Breed to stop violating the civil rights of Catholics and other believers in San Francisco,” Archbishop Cordileone said in a statement.


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The Mix – September 17, 2020

The Archbishop of San Francisco is pushing back against the state’s coronavirus restrictions on churches and worship. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone put out a call for people to rise up to protest this religious discrimination at a “Free The Mass” event.


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Catholic San Francisco – September 28, 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice on Sept. 25 warned San Francisco officials that current restrictions on public worship in the city may be unconstitutional, drawing praise from Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

“Catholics in San Francisco have been patiently suffering injustice for months. At last, a competent legal authority is challenging the city’s absurd rules, which have no basis in science, but are grounded in hostility to religion and especially the Catholic Church,” Cordileone said Friday.


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Law Enforcement Today – September 27, 2020

According to a news release issued by the United States Department of Justice, they are calling on the mayor of San Francisco reminding her that the city’s policy of restricting houses of worship to only a single worshiper regardless of their size is contrary to the Constitution.

Currently, San Francisco has no such restrictions on other indoor settings such as gyms, tattoo parlors, hair salons, massage studios, and daycares, the release said.

The Justice Department sent a letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed in which they referred to the policy as “draconian” and that it suggests hostility to religious people and the free exercise of religion.


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SF Gate – September 26, 2020

The United States Department of Justice sent a strongly-worded letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Friday, warning of “further action” if current restrictions on places of worship amid the coronavirus pandemic are not lifted.

Under the city’s current health order, only one congregant at a time is allowed to worship indoors. Even though San Francisco is permitted to allow 25% capacity at indoor places of worship under its status as a red tier county, local officials have taken a stricter approach.


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NBC News – September 25, 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice asked San Francisco on Friday to end its one-congregant rule at places of worship during the coronavirus pandemic, warning the policy could violate the U.S. Constitution.

In a letter to Mayor London Breed, the DOJ said the rule of allowing only one worshipper inside religious centers while multiple patrons can go into gyms and personal care businesses infringes on the First Amendment right to exercise religion and discriminates against people of faith.


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ABC 7 – September 26, 2020

The Department of Justice sent San Francisco Mayor London Breed a letter Friday, urging her to open up places of worship claiming the current guidance “may violate the First Amendment.”

The letter sent by sent by Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, David Anderson, claims the city’s current COVID-19 restrictions favors businesses and not houses of worship.


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Catholic Telegraph – September 28, 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice on Sept. 25 warned San Francisco officials that its current restrictions on public worship in the city may be unconstitutional, drawing praise from Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

“Catholics in San Francisco have been patiently suffering injustice for months. At last, a competent legal authority is challenging the city’s absurd rules, which have no basis in science, but are grounded in hostility to religion and especially the Catholic Church,” Cordileone said Friday.


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World Religion News – September 28, 2020

Under COVID restrictions, San Francisco bans indoor worship and limits outdoor services to 12 people, but Catholics, Led by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, marched in San Francisco recently, demanding city health officials ease COVID restrictions.


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California Political Review – September 27, 2020

The Mayor of San Fran has violated the First Amendment to the Constitution. Thankfully AG Barr is not letting Mayor Breed to get away with banning religious freedom. Churches are being closed, while Walmart and target are crowded, protestors and rioters are roaming the streets and homeless encampments are fill to the brim, sleeping bag next to sleeping bag. But she opposes your right to prayer in a church.

“Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband and David Anderson, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, argued that the ban raises concerns about religious freedom and may violate the Constitution in a Friday letter to Mayor London Breed.


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International Family News – October 8, 2020

In den letzten Monaten hat die demokratische Bürgermeisterin von San Francisco, London Breed, äußerst repressive Maßnahmen gegen Gläubige verhängt und versucht, die katholische Kirche mundtot zu machen.

Der Erzbischof der Stadt leistet mit Mut Widerstand. Nun, nach dem ein Brief, den das US-Justizministerium am 25. September gegen die übermäßig restriktiven Entscheidungen des Stadtrates an die Bürgermeisterin geschrieben hatte, muss der Fall vor Gericht. In der Zwischenzweit versammeln sich Tausende von Gläubigen zum Gebet, wie gestern, zur Rezitation des öffentlichen Rosenkranzes zur Feier des Sieges des Christentums in der Schlacht von Lepanto (1571), die zur Kathedrale Santa Maria Assunta gezogen wurden.


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Christian Post – September 27, 2020

The Justice Department has warned San Francisco Mayor London Breed that the city’s limitations on indoor worship to one congregant at a time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic “is contrary to the Constitution and the nation’s best tradition of religious freedom.”

In response to the city’s policy of only allowing one person at a time to enter houses of worship, the Justice Department said in its letter to Breed that the city could not limit places of worship to a single congregant while “allowing multiple patrons in other indoor settings including gyms, tattoo parlors, hair salons, massage studios, and daycares.”

The limitation is “draconian, out of step with the treatment afforded other similar indoor activities in San Francisco, wholly at odds with this Nation’s traditional understanding of religious liberty, and may violate the First Amendment to the Constitution,” wrote Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David Anderson.


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Daily Wire – September 26, 2020

The Department of Justice sent a letter to the city of San Francisco on Friday warning them that their “one congregant” policy, under which only one member of the public is allowed in a place of worship at a time, regardless of the size of the building, was raising questions about the right to exercise religious freedoms in the city.

“San Francisco’s treatment of places of worship raises serious concerns about religious freedom,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney David Anderson in the letter. “In particular, the limitation of indoor worship to one congregant without regard to the size of the place of worship is draconian, out of step with the treatment afforded other similar indoor activities in San Francisco, wholly at odds with this Nation’s traditional understanding of religious liberty, and may violate the First Amendment to the Constitution.”


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National Catholic Register – September 26, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco penned an op-ed in the Washington Post this week citing the First Amendment as he called for city officials to relax the current restrictions on public worship, which are some of the strictest in the country.

Rather than asking for special treatment, “all we are seeking is access to worship in our own churches, following reasonable safety protocols — the same freedoms now extended to customers of nail salons, massage services and gyms,” Archbishop Cordileone wrote in the Sept. 16 op-ed.

“It’s only fair, it’s only compassionate, and, unlike with these other activities, it’s what the First Amendment demands.”


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NBC Bay Area – September 26, 2020

Is it time to go back to church? The U.S. Attorney is threatening legal action against San Francisco if it doesn’t allow churches to reopen.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is relieved the U.S. Attorney’s Office is pressuring the city to allow places of worship to open.

The Department of Justice sent Mayor London Breed a letter that said current COVID-19 restrictions limiting places of worship to one person at a time infringe on religious freedom and violate First Amendment rights.


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CNS News – September 25, 2020

“They allow only one person at a time in a cathedral that has a capacity for about 3,000 to 3,500–if you include the standing room,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone told CNSNews.com in an interview.

CNSNews.com asked the archbishop: “Do you think that the city government of San Francisco is specifically targeting religious practice and the Catholic Church?”

“Very clearly they are targeting the Catholic Church,” he said.

“They are clearly targeting us. They are clearly targeting us,” he later emphasized.

CNSNews.com also asked the archbishop: “Are there actually people in the government of the city of San Francisco who want to target the Catholic Church for discrimination?”

“All I can do is draw an inference that there is because we are clearly being targeted,” he said. “We are being discriminated against. So that has to be intentional. Somebody inside there must want to do this because it is very intentional.”

Archbishop Cordileone said that the attack that the City of San Francisco has launched on the freedom of worship is the “most severe” he has seen yet on the First Amendment-protected right to the free exercise of religion.

“I never expected that the most basic religious freedom, the right to worship — protected so robustly in our Constitution’s First Amendment — would be unjustly repressed by an American government,” he wrote in an op-ed published Sept. 16 in the Washington Post. “But that is exactly what is happening in San Francisco. For months now, the city has limited worship services to just 12 people outdoors. Worship inside our own churches is banned.”

“In that op-ed,” Archbishop Cordileone told CNSNews.com, “when I said freedom of worship what I meant is: Religious liberty means a whole lot of different things. Most fundamental within that is the freedom of worship. They are not the same thing. Freedom of worship is the most basic part of freedom of religion. So, we have seen the free exercise clause being chipped away by these court cases that are trying to keep us from practicing, serving the community in accord with the moral values we get from our faith. But now they are starting to chip away even at the freedom of worship, even going inside the walls of the church and saying we can’t do that.”

At the same time, the archbishop emphasized the he is not trying to hold Masses or religious services in a manner that will put the health of the congregations at risk.

“The city asked faith communities to submit a safety plan for when we go back to indoor worship in May. And we sent ours—the same ones that we’re following all over the country,” he said.

“It’s a model that was developed by the Augustine Institute in Rome,” he said. “They put together a team of experts, of health-science experts, theologians, liturgists, to come up with a way to do Mass safely that is respectful to the ritual of the Mass. So, the whole country is following these and each diocese may make a few little adaptations.”

The City of San Francisco has not responded to the archdiocese’s safety plan that was submitted four months ago.

“So, we submitted ours in May,” said the archbishop. “The health officer himself spoke approvingly of it to me. Retail stores sent in their safety plans. They got their safety plan approved for 50-percent indoor capacity and went back into operation. We are still waiting to hear back officially on our plan.”

The archbishop emphasized his intention to “make sure our people are safe.”

“Now, I understand that we have to be safe and I have been emphasizing this all along,” said the archbishop. “It’s not like we want to be reckless when we go back to worshipping indoors. As I said, I issued those safety protocols and I want to make sure our people are safe. I mean, I’m a pastor of souls, so I care for their bodies, too. I want to make sure that our people are safe. We want to do it in a responsible way, and we can do it in a responsible way. But we want to be treated fairly and equally as others.”

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is currently conducting a petition drive aimed at getting San Francisco Mayo London Breed to back away from the rule that says only one person can enter a church.

“There is a petition drive going on now to urge the mayor to free the Mass,” said Archbishop Cordileone. “People can sign up at FreeTheMass.com. They can sign this petition to urge the mayor to let up.”


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San Francisco Chronicle – September 25, 2020

The U.S. Justice Department called on San Francisco Mayor London Breed to end the city’s policy that limits the number of visitors to places of worship to one person at a time, calling the practice discriminatory and saying it’s a possible violation of the First Amendment.

In the letter sent to Breed on Friday, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David Anderson said that the policy is “wholly at odds with this nation’s traditional understanding of religious liberty.”


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San Francisco Chronicle – September 24, 2020

As a lawyer, and as a Democrat, and as a Catholic, here’s the bottom line: I can’t believe the way we Catholics are being treated unequally by the city of San Francisco: Only one person allowed in a church for private prayer at a time? . . .

This is not a health rule, this is anti-Catholic animus, pure and simple. . .

I’m a discrimination trial lawyer, and besides the Constitution (as if that weren’t enough), there are several other laws the city is violating by denying us our right to practice our religion, with precautions, of course. These laws apply to everyone, including Mayor London Breed and the city and county of San Francisco. . . .

It shouldn’t take a court decision to correct this injustice. But if the archbishop wants a lawyer, I’m available.


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San Francisco News – September 22, 2020

Organized by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Catholics gathered in front of City Hall at the Civic Center Plaza and the Cathedral of St. Mary the Assumption to protest perceived discriminatory government policies on church gatherings. According to the Archbishop, the procession’s purpose was to call on Mayor London Breed, Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax, and San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón, to ease restrictions on public worship in San Francisco. The Archdiocese said that thousands attended the procession.


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Ricochet – September 22, 2020


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Kerknet-redactie – September 22, 2020

De aartsbisschop van San Francisco klaagt aan dat de beperkingen voor religieuze instellingen veel strikter zijn dan die voor hotels en winkels.


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Aletiae – September 21, 2020

Already in San Francisco shopping malls are permitted to operate at 25% capacity. Restaurants have been opened for outdoor dining.

Meanwhile, Churches are permitted a mere 12-person congregation outdoors. The city of San Francisco plans to increase the sanctioned number of congregants to a mere 50 parishioners outdoors and 25 indoors starting October 1.

Archbishop Cordileone has stated that 25 parishioners is less than 1 percent of the capacity of San Francisco’s St. Mary Cathedral. How are these inordinate restrictions going to ever meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of Catholics in San Francisco?


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Il Ussidiario – September 21, 2020

In California e in altri stati americani è vietato seguire la Messa all’interno dell’edificio religioso, nonostante i centri commerciali siano aperti


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Gaudium Press – September 22, 2020

Mons. Cordileone convocó una manifestación ayer, que terminó en el City Hall y en eucaristías.


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Tempi – September 22, 2020

L’eldorado dell’uguaglianza riapre saloni di bellezza, negozi e palestre, e impone restrizioni assurde solo a messe e preghiere. Monsignor Cordileone porta i fedeli in piazza


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Domradio – September 21, 2020

In San Francisco sind die Hotels wieder vollständig geöffnet, Einkaufzentren dürfen eine Vielzahl von Kunden pro Tag bedienen. In Kirchen sind aber weiterhin nur 25 Besucher zugelassen. Erzbischof Cordileone wehrt sich.


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Religion ORF.AT – September 22, 2020

Der römisch-katholische Erzbischof Salvatore Cordileone von San Francisco (US-Bundesstaat Kalifornien) fordert von der Stadt ein sofortiges Ende der Coronavirus-Beschränkungen für Gottesdienste. Er sprach von einer „Verhöhnung Gottes“.


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Sacramento Bee – September 21, 2020

San Francisco, California, Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on September 20 2020, described restrictions on worship due to the coronavirus as a mockery. He was speaking on the steps of the Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption.


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Fox News – September 21, 2020

The Catholic archbishop of San Francisco on Sunday criticized why indoor retail shops are open but not houses of worship during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.

“The City continues to place unrealistic and suffocating restrictions on our natural and constitutional right to worship. This willful discrimination is affecting us all,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in his remarks posted by the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption online. “Yes, discrimination, because there is no other word for it. We ask: why can people shop at Nordstrom’s at 25% capacity but only one of you at a time is allowed to pray inside of this great Cathedral, your Cathedral? Is this equality?”


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Net NY – September 21, 2020

San Francisco’s archbishop told hundreds of Catholics gathered near City Hall Sept. 20 that “it is because of our Catholic faith that we are being put at the end of the line” by city officials in enacting what could be the country’s harshest pandemic restrictions on religious worship.

“The city continues to place unrealistic and suffocating restrictions on our natural and constitutional right to worship. This willful discrimination is affecting us all,” said Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone. “Yes, discrimination, because there is no other word for it.”


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Washington Times – September 21, 2020

“It has become clear to me that they just don’t care about you,” he said Sunday, Catholic News Agency reported. “We have been patiently putting up with unjust treatment long enough, and now it is time to come together to witness to our faith and to the primacy of God, and tell City Hall: No More!”

The archbishop’s anger comes against a political backdrop in which San Francisco is allowing businesses to open to various capacities.

“One person at a time in this great Cathedral to pray? What an insult,” the religious leader continued. “This is a mockery. They are mocking you, and even worse, they are mocking God. … This willful discrimination is affecting us all. Yes, discrimination, because there is no other word for it. … We ask: why can people shop at Nordstrom’s at 25% capacity but only one of you at a time is allowed to pray inside of this great Cathedral, your Cathedral? Is this equality? No, there is no reason for this new rule except a desire to put Catholics — to put you — at the back of the line.”


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ABC 30 – September 21, 2020

San Francisco’s Catholic Archbishop is blasting City Hall over COVID-19 restrictions, prohibiting indoor worship services.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone says local officials are “mocking God” by refusing to let indoor masses take place.

Hundreds of Catholics marched to St. Mary’s Cathedral Sunday, to send a message: We are essential.


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The American Spectator – September 20, 2020

In a Catholic Church that seems to be led by cowardly sheep instead of shepherds, San Francisco’s courageous Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is an exception. Unlike the majority of bishops throughout the country who have been silent in the face of discriminatory policies limiting or even preventing public Masses, Archbishop Cordileone has been willing to stand up to the inequitable treatment the city’s Catholics have received from a city administration intent on preventing parishioners from entering their own Churches for Mass.

True to his name, which means “heart of a lion,” Archbishop Cordileone has decided it is time to push back against the unfair policies imposed by a recalcitrant city government and has mobilized parishioners to prayerfully participate on Sunday, September 20, in a Eucharistic procession to City Hall to protest the religious discrimination in the city. The San Francisco Archdiocese has ordered 100 banners, which read, “We are Essential: Free the Mass!”


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ESNE TV – October 7, 2020


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ESNE TV – September 24, 2020


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New York Post – September 21, 2020

With banners reading “We are ­Essential: Free the Mass!” thousands marched Sunday in a “Eucharistic procession to City Hall to protest the religious discrimination.” The city lets only one person into a church or ­cathedral at a time for private prayer, when retail stores open at 50 percent capacity and restaurants can serve indoors at 25 percent seating. Massive street protests are kosher, yet the city limits even outdoor Masses to 12 people, priests included.


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MSN News – September 21, 2020

More than 1,000 people gathered at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on Sunday, converging from Catholic parishes throughout the city and then marching to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Gough Street in a protest that demanded the immediate reopening of indoor services.


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SF Gate – September 21, 2020

The Catholic archbishop of San Francisco led a protest on Sunday criticizing the city’s restrictions on reopening churches during the coronavirus pandemic.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone delivered an impassioned sermon at an outdoor mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption after a march through the streets, calling for the right to worship indoors.


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The Catholic Talk Show – September 21, 2020

In this episode of The Catholic Talk Show, the guys are joined by Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco to discuss the unjust and draconian restrictions put on the Mass in San Francisco.


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First Things – September 21, 2020

Months ago, we submitted a safety plan to the city including masks and social distancing, just like indoor retail stores did. The city said “yes” to indoor retail but we Catholics are still waiting to hear back. The city continues to place unrealistic and suffocating restrictions on our natural and constitutional right to worship. This willful discrimination is affecting us all. Yes, discrimination, because there is no other word for it. We ask: Why can people shop at Nordstrom’s at 25 percent capacity but only one of you at a time is allowed to pray inside of this great cathedral, your cathedral? Is this equality? No, there is no reason for this new rule except a desire to put Catholics—to put you—at the back of the line.


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Daily Wire – September 21, 2020

The Catholic archbishop of San Francisco claimed that the city’s strict coronavirus lockdown restrictions against houses of worship are “mocking God.”

According to Catholic News Agency, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone participated in one of several outdoor Eucharistic processions on Sunday, which converged near San Francisco City Hall before proceeding to the cathedral.


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CBS Bay Area – September 20, 2020

Led by outspoken San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, hundreds of Catholics marched in San Francisco Sunday, demanding city health officials ease COVID restrictions on public indoor religious services.


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San Francisco Chronicle – September 20, 2020

“Places of worship were closed in the city for almost six months after the mid-March shelter-in-place order. Even though the state has said San Francisco can reopen churches at 25% capacity, Mayor London Breed announced last week that one person would be allowed inside churches at a time for prayer.”


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Free The Mass Demonstration – September 20, 2020

“For months I have pleaded with the City on your behalf, advocating for your need of the consolation of the Mass, and the consolation you derive from the practice of your faith and connection with your faith community.  City Hall ignored us.  City Hall ignored you.  They didn’t deny it, but they simply ignored you.  It has become clear to me that they just don’t care about you.  To them you are nothing, to them you don’t matter.  Let me repeat that: to City Hall, YOU DON’T MATTER.”

– Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.


WORD DOCUMENT – EXCERPTS FROM SERMON

Gateway Pundit – September 20, 2020

On Sunday morning Archbishop Cordileone explained why Catholics must resist the unjust repression of our right to worship.


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Catholic New York – September 18, 2020

In imposing severe restrictions on indoor worship services because of Covid-19 protocols, the city of San Francisco “is turning a great many faithful away from their houses of prayer,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.


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National Catholic Register – September 18, 2020

The archbishop of San Francisco penned an op-ed in the Washington Post this week citing the First Amendment as he called for city officials to relax the current restrictions on public worship, which are some of the strictest in the country.


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Catholic Culture – September 17, 2020

With San Francisco restricting attendance at indoor worship to one person (and outdoor worship to 50), Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced three Eucharistic processions to “free the Mass.” He also wrote a Washington Post op-ed defending the right to worship.


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The Catholic Voice – September 21, 2020

We are lucky in that in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, we have been able to hold Mass and the sacraments outdoors. Except for a week of smoky air, this has served us well. I have witnessed weddings, baptisms, ordinations and confirmations celebrated outdoors with reverence and dignity. Our parish churches are still open for private prayer and adoration.

Catholics living in the City and County of San Francisco have not been so fortunate. The government there has imposed draconian, discriminatory prohibitions against religious worship. Only 12 people are allowed at outdoor Mass in The City. I think Archbishop Cordileone is quite right to invite his parishioners to sign a petition, and participate in a public procession of protest to “Free the Mass” (See https://sfarchdiocese.org/events/free-the-mass).


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First Things- September 18, 2020

The latest installment in an ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein. The Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone, metropolitan archbishop of San Francisco, joins the podcast. He discusses how his city’s lockdown rules unfairly single out churches and religious believers for particularly harsh restrictions.


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Univision – September 18, 2020

El arzobispo de San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, señaló que la iglesia es una actividad esencial, por lo que convocó a sus feligreses a una marcha este domingo 20 de septiembre para pedir que les permitan tener misas dentro de las iglesias.


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Univision – September 18, 2020

La Arquidiócesis de San Francisco convocó a miles de feligreses a participar en una marcha el próximo domingo para exigir la eliminación de lo que consideran restricciones “injustas” y “excesivas” contra la celebración de misas en las iglesias de la ciudad durante la pandemia de coronavirus.


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Telemundo 48 – September 18, 2020

El Arzobispo hizo un llamado a los feligreses para que participen en una procesión para pedir que se flexibilicen las restricciones que tiene la iglesia.


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San Francisco Chronicle – September 18, 2020

On Wednesday, Salvatore Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco, called San Francisco’s restrictions on church services “profoundly harmful and unequal treatment” in a Washington Post opinion article. He said the city’s announcement that it would allow indoor service for up to 25 people doesn’t go far enough.


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Catholic Herald – September 18, 2020

In imposing severe restrictions on indoor worship services because of COVID-19 protocols, the city of San Francisco “is turning a great many faithful away from their houses of prayer,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.


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Breitbart – September 17, 2020

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco is urging Catholics in his archdiocese to “Free the Mass” and publicly demonstrate against the coronavirus restrictions on worship that are inconsistent with rules applied to other non-religious activities in the city and county.

On Sunday, Cordileone sent a memorandum to the priests of his archdiocese regarding the reopening of churches for public Masses.

“We can’t be silent any longer,” Cordileone warned his priests. “We cannot simply stand by while our people are treated with this lack of compassion for their needs, and this lack of respect for their rights. I have therefore formed a strategy committee consisting of both chancery staff and others, both clergy and lay, to advise me on how we can best make our voice heard in a peaceful but forceful way.”


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Washington Post – September 16, 2020

I never expected that the most basic religious freedom, the right to worship — protected so robustly in our Constitution’s First Amendment — would be unjustly repressed by an American government.

But that is exactly what is happening in San Francisco. For months now, the city has limited worship services to just 12 people outdoors. Worship inside our own churches is banned. The city recently announced it will now allow 50 for outdoor worship, with a goal of permitting indoor services up to a maximum of 25 people by Oct. 1 — less than 1 percent of the capacity of San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral.

This is not nearly enough to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of Catholics in San Francisco. In imposing these restrictions, the city is turning a great many faithful away from their houses of prayer.

People can freely go to parks here, as long as they stay six feet apart. If they follow proper social distancing and wear masks, people can eat on an outdoor patio with no hard numerical limit. Indoor shopping malls are already open at 25 percent capacity. Catholics in San Francisco are increasingly noticing the simple unfairness. As one of my parishioners asked recently, “Why can I spend three hours indoors shopping for shoes at Nordstrom’s but can’t go to Mass?”

And it is not just San Francisco. According to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, six states with a combined population of 67 million Americans single out religious worship for unfavorable treatment compared to similar secular activities: California, New Jersey, Maine, Virginia, Connecticut and Nevada.

We Catholics are not indifferent to the very real dangers posed by covid-19. This is one of the reasons Catholic churches have developed rigorous protocols to protect public health in our facilities. We submitted our safety plans to the city in May along with other faith communities, and while indoor retailers had their plans approved and went into operation, we are still waiting to hear back.

Meanwhile, the scientific evidence from other jurisdictions is clear: These safeguards are working. As three infectious-disease specialists who reviewed the evidence on more than 1 million public Masses over the past few months concluded, there have been no documented outbreaks of covid-19 linked to church attendance in churches that follow the protocols. We have demonstrated that we know how to hold Mass safely. There is no reason not to allow us to put that knowledge into practice.

Nor do our concerns stem from hostility toward government. We Catholics respect legitimate authority, and we recognize that the government has a right to impose reasonable public health rules, just as we recognize its right to issue safety codes for our church buildings. But when government asserts authority over the church’s very right to worship, it crosses a line. Our fundamental rights do not come from the state. As the authors of our Declaration of Independence put it, they are “self-evident,” that is, they come from God.

Even this injustice, though, is not as hurtful as the simple lack of compassion. I sometimes wonder whether the increasingly secular elites imposing these restrictions understand the pain they are unnecessarily inflicting. The sacraments as we Catholics understand them cannot be live-streamed. People are being denied the religious worship that connects them with God and one another. For hundreds of thousands of San Franciscans facing the simultaneous challenges of a pandemic and economic downturn, the church is their key source of spiritual, emotional and practical help. I worry about the poor, the jobless and especially the addicted whose major access to community help is the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings formerly held in churches all over the city and the country.

As one of my parishioners, Kathryn Reese, wrote recently in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Even more than food for my body, this is food for my soul. I need it. My faith is what got me through all these years, raising my kids, going through a divorce, working as a correctional officer and correctional counselor in San Quentin, and volunteering for my community.” And the Rev. Moises Agudo, who pastors the overwhelmingly Latino churches in the Mission District, echoes the sentiment, saying that his people have lost many things because of the pandemic but “the consolations of the Mass should not be one of those things.”

We want to be partners in protecting the public health, but we cannot accept profoundly harmful and unequal treatment without resisting. This is why I and other Catholics from across San Francisco will join in a public demonstration this Sunday calling on the city’s mayor, London Breed, to treat religious believers fairly.

At our demonstration, we will not be asking for special treatment. We just don’t want religious worshipers singled out for unfavorable treatment relative to people participating in activities with comparable risk profiles. All we are seeking is access to worship in our own churches, following reasonable safety protocols — the same freedoms now extended to customers of nail salons, massage services and gyms. It’s only fair, it’s only compassionate, and, unlike with these other activities, it’s what the First Amendment demands


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Church Militant – September 15, 2020

Abp. Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco has announced three simultaneous eucharistic processions throughout the city scheduled for Sept. 20 that will rendezvous outside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. The processions will commence at St. Anthony, St. Patrick and Star of the Sea parishes, walk past city hall to the cathedral, where multiple safe outdoor Holy Masses will be celebrated in English and Spanish.


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San Francisco News – September 16, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone called on parishes and their followers to participate in a public demonstration of worship in protest of San Francisco’s restrictions on in-person Mass attendance. Cordileone shared details with priests of his archdiocese in a memo on Sunday, September 13. Separate processions will begin on Sunday, September 20 at St. Anthony, St. Patrick, and Star of the Sea parishes. The groups will converge at United Nations Plaza near San Francisco City Hall and walk to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption for multiple outdoor Masses, to be given in English and Spanish. He added that participants will be wearing masks and maintain social distancing.”


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Father Mark Goring – September 16, 2020

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Zenit – September 16, 2020

“In his September 13 homily on the Cathedral Plaza, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco invited the faithful to participate in a public call for reopening churches for worship at a level consistent with other activities in San Francisco and with stringent health and safety protocols in place: ‘I invite you all to participate in this public witness of our faith, and to invite your friends and fellow Catholics to join as well.’”


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Do Rzeczky – September 15, 2020

“Next Sunday faithful of the Archdiocese of San Francisco will depart from different parishes. They are to merge into one Eucharistic procession and pass by the town hall.”


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Crux – September 16, 2020

“San Francisco’s archbishop is calling on all parishes in the archdiocese to each gather parishioners to participate in eucharistic processions to U.N. Plaza next to City Hall Sept. 20 ‘to witness to the city that faith matters.’ Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said Sept. 13 that three parishes are each organizing a procession that he hopes all parishes will join.”


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America – September 15, 2020

“San Francisco’s archbishop is calling on all parishes in the archdiocese to each gather parishioners to participate in eucharistic processions to U.N. Plaza next to City Hall Sept. 20 ‘to witness to the city that faith matters.’”


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San Francisco Chronicle – September 14, 2020

Some people do not go to Mass or any other worship services. Some people are spiritual, not religious. Some people don’t believe in God at all.
I understand that. As a Black Catholic woman, I’ve lived, I’ve worked, and I’ve volunteered for my neighbors in San Francisco my entire life. When I help hand out turkeys at Thanksgiving, I have never asked the families who want them, “Who are you going to thank?”

San Francisco is a large, diverse city — racially, ethnically and religiously. I am here to tell you that Catholics are a big part of that diversity. When Catholics serve in the many ways we do, we serve all our neighbors without regard to color or creed.

I am aware that Mayor London Breed knows that. I know she grew up here too and she knows all the good works Catholics do, never asking to see a baptismal certificate.

Mayor Breed: Why is San Francisco the only city in the entire United States that has shut down the Mass for months, limiting it to just 12 people out of doors?

The mayor says she will increase that to 50 in mid-September. “Maybe”, she says, but not for sure. Why only 50? That does not meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of Catholics in this city. It is not just Catholics who are being deprived of various worship services: Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Protestants, are all in the same boat.

When Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone called on the mayor to lift unfair restrictions on the Mass, I said, “Amen!” We know we have to respect our own health as well of that of our neighbors. We aren’t asking to be wild folk here. Reasonable limits, face masks and social distancing — we are all OK with that.

But this is what no part of me can understand: As I began to collect my thoughts for this plea to the mayor and my neighbors, I was waiting for my daughter to make a Nordstrom shopping trip. I love Nordstrom. I love to shop. When we go there, we spend two to three hours inside, wearing masks. Why am I allowed to shop for shoes while I am not allowed to go to Mass?

I figure that many might not really understand what this deprivation from Holy Communion means to people like me. Let me tell you.
Communion at a Catholic Mass is for me, as it is for all Catholics, the Bread of Life. It’s like getting an espresso from Starbucks for the soul, but so much more than that. Once I take Communion, then I’m like the Energizer Bunny. I miss it so much.

I am not the only one. Father Moises Agudo is pastor of majority-Latino Mission churches. Father Agudo recently wrote in the National Catholic Register about his own parishioners: “Coronavirus has taken much from them. The consolation of the Mass should not be one of these things.” More than 1,700 people have already signed this online petition supporting Archbishop Cordileone’s call in just the first week.
It’s not a problem for me to be socially distanced. I gladly wear gloves and mask. Mayor Breed , please understand that this is taking away the most important thing in my life that keeps me going as a woman, as a Black woman, and as a Catholic.

Even more than food for my body, this is food for my soul. I need it. My faith is what got me through all these years, raising my kids, going through a divorce, working as a correctional officer and correctional counselor in San Quentin, and volunteering for my community.

Can we compromise?

I don’t want to stand on my rights. Hell is a place where everybody stands on their rights. What’s really important living in a big, diverse city is that we respect each other, and have compassion for each other and for our differing needs.

Mayor Breed, I supported you and every San Franciscan I know voted for you. Will you help us now?

Kathryn Reese has been a parishioner of San Francisco’s Church of the Epiphany for more than 40 years.


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Relevant Radio – September 11, 2020

“Cale sits down with the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone. They discuss everything from his life growing up as a fisherman to evangelization and jazz music. They also discuss the current restrictions imposed by the City of San Francisco on churches.”


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The World Over with Raymond Arroyo – September 10, 2020

“First of all, what’s most troubling is the words she used to open up that statement, ‘houses of worship will be allowed.’ The government has no right to allow or disallow houses of worship to worship. That right, is a natural right. It’s guaranteed by the First Amendment, the government has no authority to tell us whether or not we can worship. The government has the authority to tell us what we have to do to ensure public safety when we worship. So, this to me is the most concerning thing.”


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Crisis Magazine – September 10, 2020

“Editor’s note: Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, in partnership with the Benedict XVI Institute, has launched a petition calling on lawmakers to lift ‘extreme restrictions on public worship.’ His Excellency kindly granted Crisis Magazine an interview to discuss his efforts.’”


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Daily Caller – September 9, 2020

“The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, said that the on-going restrictions placed on religious worship by the city of San Francisco are ‘an injustice’ that must be fought against and ‘eradicated.’ In an interview with the Daily Caller, Cordileone said that when the pandemic was beginning and civil authorities issued lockdown orders, he agreed to temporarily cease religious services in order to help “flatten the curve.” But the length and extent of the ban has become too much for him to abide.”


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ACI Prensa – September 8, 2020

“About two thousand people have signed a campaign that demands that the authorities of San Francisco, in California (United States) put an end to the ‘unjust restrictions’ on the celebration of Mass in open spaces. The signature campaign published on the website of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship (Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship) of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, highlighted that its Archbishop, Msgr. Salvatore Cordileone, ‘demands that San Francisco lift extreme restrictions on public worship.’”


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Catholic Philly – September 3, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco has asked the city’s mayor and health officials to ease attendance restrictions on public Masses the archbishop says are unfair. Currently, Masses may be celebrated only outdoors in San Francisco, with only 12 attendees. According to archdiocesan spokesman Mike Brown, a dozen priests have been celebrating Masses simultaneously on Sundays at Cathedral Plaza in the city.”


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The World Over with Raymond Arroyo – August 20, 2020


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National Catholic Register – September 6, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone recently called on Mayor London Breed to lift the unfair restrictions on the Mass. He is right. San Francisco is the only government in the entire Bay Area to tell people of faith: Only 12 people allowed and only outdoors. This is both an injustice and a lack of compassion. I am the pastor of the Mission Churches in San Francisco. My parishioners are part of the rich diversity of San Francisco and include many poor, hardworking faithful people. Coronavirus has taken much from them. The consolation of the Mass should not be one of these things.”


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LifeSite News – September 4, 2020

“San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone is calling on political and health authorities to ease the continued severe restrictions on public worship in San Francisco. Under San Francisco coronavirus restrictions, only outdoor religious services are currently permitted, with a maximum of 12 people attending. Cordiolene has now launched a petition calling on Mayor London Breed; Dr. Grant Colfax, director of public health; and Dr. Tomás Aragón, a San Francisco health officer, to ease the restrictions.”


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Catholic News Agency – September 4, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said Friday that the city’s current restrictions on public worship— which prohibit indoor services of any kind, as opposed to other entities such as retail which have been allowed to reopen indoor operations— show ‘callous unconcern’ for people’s spiritual needs.”


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Catholic World Report – September 4, 2020

“Archbishop Cordileone’s statement is his most recent attempt to bring attention to the inequitable treatment the City’s churches have received from a recalcitrant administration apparently intent on preventing churches and faith communities from gathering. At the same time that churches in San Francisco are prevented from holding even outdoor gatherings of more than a dozen people, the City has been allowing indoor retail stores to operate at 50 percent capacity and outdoor patio dining. San Francisco County is now allowing restaurants to reopen at 25% of dining capacity (but cannot serve more than 100 indoor guests.)”


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Life News – September 1, 2020

“The archbishop of San Francisco demanded in a statement Monday that the mayor ease what the archbishop calls ‘unfair restrictions’ for worship gatherings that pose a “serious deprivation” of Catholics’ rights. Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone accused San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax, and Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón of placing undue restrictions on religious worship despite evidence that returning to worship would prove safe if normal precautions are taken.”


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The Drew Mariani Show – September 3, 2020


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New Haven Register – September 3, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is pressing San Francisco to ‘at a minimum’ lift the 12-person cap on outdoor worship services, saying Mass can be conducted safely. In a letter Monday to Mayor London Breed and city officials, the archbishop complained that large, scheduled street protests “have been allowed to continue unhindered,” while outdoor services are much safer ‘since the people are stationary, social distance is respected, and the participants are wearing masks.’”


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Spirit Daily – September 1, 2020

“In a letter to San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed and other city officials, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Monday called on the city’s secular authorities to, ‘at a minimum, remove the excessive limits on outdoor public worship.’”


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The Pilot – September 2, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco has asked the city’s mayor and health officials to ease attendance restrictions on public Masses the archbishop says are unfair.”


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California Catholic Daily – September 1, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is urging San Francisco officials to ease restrictions on public worship, saying the city’s ‘excessive limits’ limits to curb Covid-19 are unfair and a deprivation of religious organizations’ First Amendment rights. No outbreaks have been linked to U.S. Catholic churches that follow safety guidelines, the archbishop said.”


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San Francisco News – September 2, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, wrote a letter to Mayor London Breed on Monday, August 31 to throw out ‘excessive limits’ on outdoor activity. A local ordinance banned indoor worship services, where the SF Archdiocese has been holding mass outdoors. The city ordinance limits outdoor worship services to no more than 12 people. The letter criticizes the cities priorities that label worship as non-essential.”


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The Tablet – September 3, 2020

“‘San Francisco is the only government in the entire Bay Area that restricts public gatherings to 12 people out of doors. Ours and others’ faith is being treated as less important than a trip to the hardware store, or a nice dinner out on the patio,’ Archbishop Cordileone said in his Aug. 31 message to Mayor London Breed, Dr. Grant Colfax, the director of public health, and Dr. Tomas Aragon, a city health officer.”


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San Francisco Chronicle – September 1, 2020

“The relaxation of restrictions on outdoor worship followed the release of a letter Monday from San Francisco Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone calling on Breed to remove ‘excessive limits on outdoor public worship.’”

“‘We have shown we can celebrate the Mass safely,’ the archbishop wrote. ‘Ours and others’ faith is being treated as less important than a trip to the hardware store or a nice dinner out on the patio.’ The archdiocese has sparred frequently with city officials during the pandemic.”


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ACI Prensa – September 2, 2020

“Mons. Salvatore Cordileone, Arzobispo de San Francisco (Estados Unidos), pidió a la alcaldesa de la ciudad, London Breed, que “como mínimo, elimine los límite excesivos para el culto público en espacios abiertos” para evitar el contagio del coronavirus.”


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La Croix Africa – September 21, 2020

L’archevêque de San Francisco a appelé, dimanche 13 septembre, à l’organisation de processions eucharistiques dans la ville de Californie afin de protester contre les mesures sanitaires liée à la crise du coronavirus. Ces processions doivent avoir lieu ce dimanche 20 septembre.


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Catholic Voice – August 31, 2020

“’San Francisco is the only government in the entire Bay Area that restricts public gatherings to 12 people out of doors. Ours and others’ faith is being treated as less important than a trip to the hardware store, or a nice dinner out on the patio,’ Cordileone stated.”


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Relevant Radio – August 31, 2020

“I think young people who are living in a very sort of transitional world there’s nothing, sort of, hang on. They’re looking for something that has timeless value, and all the beauty of the church is given to the world is what is a truly timeless value.”

“Thanks to young people who are serious about their faith. They’re not looking to reshape the church and change it in their own image and promote their dad. They’re looking for something that is a solid value that will connect them with the sacred because there’s been such a dismissal of the sacred in our society now they want something that can connect them with that.”

“We’re trying to open that door [of beauty to the Church] widely by providing practical resources to parishes so they can have more beautiful and reverent liturgies, and also revitalize the Catholic culture of the arts because the church has always been a great patron of the arts. So we’re beginning to commission new compositions of sacred music that have a timeless value but also connect with the culture in which we’re living.”

“We have parishes that are just a couple miles apart; in the one they can only have 12 people outdoors and the other ones don’t have a limit on people outdoors though they’re just a couple of miles apart.”


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Catholic World Report – August 31, 2020

“Cordileone called the city’s restrictions on outdoor Masses ‘a serious deprivation of our rights as Americans under the First Amendment and our spiritual needs as people of faith.’”


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Catholic Canada – August 31, 2020

“In a letter to San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed and other city officials, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Monday called on the city’s secular authorities to, ‘at a minimum, remove the excessive limits on outdoor public worship.’ ‘Particularly for us as Catholics, attending the Mass and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in person is the source and the summit of our faith, and we have shown we can celebrate the Mass safely,’ Cordileone wrote Aug. 31.”


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Catholic Culture – August 31, 2020

“Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has called upon San Francisco Mayor London Breed and other public officials to ‘at a minimum, remove the excessive limits on outdoor public worship.’”


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B16 Announces “Free the Mass”! Petition to Mayor Breed in Support of +Cordileone – August 31, 2020

Press Release
Contact: Maggie Gallagher Maggie1960Gallagher@gmail.com

Archbishop Cordileone Calls on San Francisco to Lift Unfair Restrictions on the Mass
Benedict XVI Institute Launches Petition to Mayor Breed: Free the Mass!

Archbishop Salvatore j Cordileone released a statement calling on Mayor London Breed, Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax, and San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón, to ease unfair restrictions on public worship in San Francisco:

“I am grateful that the Mayor and other government leaders in San Francisco acknowledge the importance of mental and spiritual health to the overall well-being of our people, in addition to physical and economic health. I am therefore calling on the Mayor and her public health officials to, at a minimum, remove the excessive limits on outdoor public worship.

“Particularly for us as Catholics, attending the Mass and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in person is the source and the summit of our faith, and we have shown we can celebrate the Mass safely. As three major infectious disease specialists recently pointed out, ‘over one million public [M]asses have been celebrated following guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus…for Catholic churches following these guidelines, no outbreaks of COVID-19 have been linked to church attendance.’

“San Francisco is the only government in the entire Bay Area that restricts public gatherings to 12 people out of doors. Ours and others’ faith is being treated as less important than a trip to the hardware store, or a nice dinner out on the patio. This denial of access to safe outdoor public worship is a serious deprivation of our rights as Americans under the First Amendment and our spiritual needs as people of faith. One million public Masses without any Covid outbreaks demonstrates that it is just as safe in San Francisco as in other parts of the state, such as San Mateo County, to permit large gatherings for outdoor public worship with reasonable safety precautions.”

In response to the Archbishop’s call, The Benedict XVI Institute launched a public petition so Bay Area Catholics can voice their support for the Archbishop and demand the Mayor lift unfair restrictions. “Let us have the Mass,” said Maggie Gallagher, executive director. “We need the Body and Blood of Christ. We cannot worship via livestream. Our faith is incarnational all the way down. We have shown Catholics can celebrate the Mass safely.  Enough is enough. It’s time for Catholic San Francisco to speak up!”

Petition Link: https://www.benedictinstitute.org/liftunfairrestrictions/

Letter from Three Infectious Disease Specialists: “Evidence-Based Guidelines to Celebrate Mass Safely Are Working.”


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Viet Catholic News – September 27, 2020


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The Catholic World Report – July 22, 2020

“Dana Gioia is probably the greatest of these contemporary poets, but there are others who are now being read and noticed. One of the most remarkable is James Matthew Wilson, an associate professor in the department of humanities and Augustinian traditions at Villanova University. Though he is said to belong to the ‘West Chester’ school of formalists associated with Gioia, such inside baseball is less important than the fact that he has produced a remarkable body of both criticism and poetry. . . .

“In Kirsch’s view, the poet-critic knows how it is done because he or she is actively doing it at a high level. This is certainly the case with Wilson, whose The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking was a battle cry against those who disdained the traditional craft of poetry from plush chairs, either university-endowed or seated next to Mr. Fallon on the late night circuit. No civilized-but-impotent yawp, it is accompanied by a body of work that has earned him a raft of prizes, including in 2017 the prestigious $50,000 Hiett Prize in the Humanities awarded by the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Perhaps more valuable is the approval of critics such as Gioia, who has labeled him ‘the most conspicuously talented young poet-critic in American Catholic letters.’ . . .

“While academic modernism judged formal poetry dead, Some Permanent Things displays a remarkable variety of forms and subject matter, both indicating the complexity and creativity of life. Its theme matches its formal qualities insofar as the collection as a whole is governed by the desire to see permanence in nature itself and in the goods of family, communities, and the Church. . . .

“The River of the Immaculate Conception, a poetic sequence created in commemoration of the premiere of Frank LaRocca’s Mass of the Americas, takes this same approach of love of what is present with truthfulness about the double origins of our modern world.  . . .

“James Matthew Wilson may never make the late-night circuit. So much the worse for the circuit. But if we are thinking about the fortunes of poetry in an age of social media, I’ll bet the works of both the titled modernists and the interloping Instas will be the ones that will disappear after their fifteen minutes of fame is up. The poems Wilson likes to read and write will be the ones that people continue to like to read. As they tell stories and reveal the characters of men, women, and places, all in the light or the shadow of grace, they repay the reader not just with pleasure but the sense that there is a deeper order to our world that clicks away as surely as the beats of the poem.”


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Washington Post – June 30, 2020

To the protesters who tore down his statue in Los Angeles last month, the priest, friar and saint Junípero Serra represents “hate, bigotry and colonization,” as one activist put it.

Nothing would have made Serra sadder, for the real man was a profound lover of all people, and especially of the indigenous peoples he came to serve.

Seen through the lens of the present, many heroes of history may seem unworthy of their pedestals. But some, such as Serra, still deserve our esteem.

Who, then, is Junípero Serra after all?

First and foremost, Serra represents the true spirit of a church identified with the poor and outcast. He left his home, his family, his sinecure as a philosophy professor to offer the very best thing he had to the California people: the news that God Himself loved them enough to send His only Son to die on a cross to redeem them. Saint Junípero Serra is “the Apostle of California.”

Serra repeatedly intervened for mercy on behalf of indigenous rebels against Spanish authorities. He famously walked to Mexico City with a painful ulcerated leg to obtain the authority to discipline the military who were abusing the indigenous people. Then he walked back.

And his legacy lives on. The 21 missions founded by Serra and his brother Franciscans are the state’s oldest structures and among its most visited historic monuments. The churches are a physical sign of the Catholic Church’s respect for local cultures, enriched and transformed by the love of Jesus Christ. Mission architecture is widely copied precisely because its innovation speaks so strikingly to Southwestern culture.

There is no denying that Native Americans in California endured grave human rights abuses. They suffered wrongs during all three eras: the Spanish colonization (known as the Mission era), the Mexican secularization and the American era.

But Serra should not bear the weight of all that went wrong and all who did wrong. If we looked at him with clear eyes, we would see Serra as one of the first American champions of the human rights of indigenous peoples, a man who protested abusive police powers by government authorities.

The deaths that occurred during the Mission era were primarily from disease. The greater, more deliberate devastation happened later, when secular governments took control. As UCLA historian Benjamin Madley writes in his book “American Genocide”: “Murders and massacres filled the archives.”

As Santa Clara University historian Robert Senkewicz told the National Catholic Reporter, “We do know what did happen when religious groups were not present to try to protect native peoples.” The genocide of native peoples happened primarily during the gold rush, he points out, “when Americans offered bounties for Indian scalps and the native peoples of Northern California were brutally decimated and oppressed.”

History is often not kind to heroes. George Washington sacrificed to found a great country. He also owned slaves. Leland Stanford, founder of a great university, was an abolitionist but also continued genocidal policies against the Indians. Haight- Ashbury, the San Francisco symbol of free love, is named after Henry Haight, who in 1867 called the Chinese a “servile, effeminate and inferior race” that would “pollute and desecrate” Americans’ democratic heritage. He was elected governor of California in a landslide.

We are not yet a nation that lives up to our founding creed of liberty and justice for all. We can and must do better. That is precisely why we ought to look to Serra as an inspiration to heroic virtue and as an emblem of American diversity. His is the path to peace, equality and racial justice.

The first Hispanic American saint, he is also the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil and by the first pope from the Americas. At the canonization ceremony, Pope Francis said Serra represents a fearless willingness to engage with the other with the love of Christ: “He learned how to bring to birth and nurture God’s life in the faces of everyone he met; he made them his brothers and sisters.”

Father Junípero Serra died a beloved figure, mourned by indigenous people and Spaniards alike: a symbol of reconciliation, of hope and of the profound love he bore toward the people he strove to serve. His life reminds us of a core tenet of the Catholic faith: that the spirit of poverty, service and simplicity is the way to peace.

The writer is the archbishop of San Francisco.


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Dappled Things – May 2020

“So I was happy that I chanced across ten album covers posted by sacred music composer Frank La Rocca in response to a challenge from his daughter. La Rocca is the Composer in Residence for the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship.”

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First Things – March 2020

“In The River of the Immaculate Conception, James Matthew Wilson confirms his vocation as a public poet. Commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute, this poem sequence of seven parts leads us through the lives of St. Juan Diego, St. ­Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Père Marquette, with interludes on the interconnectedness of art, place, and theology.”

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National Catholic Register – February 22, 2020

The Best In Catholic Blogging by Tito Edwards Highlighting “The Great Renaissance Artist You’ve Never Seen Before” by Charlotte Allen at Catholic Arts Today

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Catholic News Agency – May 15, 2020

“McConnell, a former federal judge on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, joined Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco as the main speakers for a briefing titled “The Church, the State and the Pandemic.” The event was moderated by Maggie Gallagher, executive director of the San Francisco-based Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship.”

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National Catholic Register – May 15, 2020

“McConnell, a former federal judge on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, joined Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco as the main speakers for a briefing titled “The Church, the State and the Pandemic.” The event was moderated by Maggie Gallagher, executive director of the San Francisco-based Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship.”

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The Catholic Telegraph – May 15, 2020

“McConnell, a former federal judge on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, joined Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco as the main speakers for a briefing titled “The Church, the State and the Pandemic.” The event was moderated by Maggie Gallagher, executive director of the San Francisco-based Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship.”

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L.A. Catholic Morning – April 22, 2020


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Seize the Day with Gus Lloyd – March 19, 2020


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Medium – March 19, 2020

“Right when I am at my point of deepest solipsistic despair, in walks Frank La Rocca. His Ave Verum Corpus from his Mass of the Americas is a profoundly beautiful work written by someone who has thought very deeply about all of the problems of voice leading. I don’t mean to suggest that he is somehow writing ancient music. He’s not. He’s writing modern music that is informed by ancient principles.”


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Dappled Things – March 2020

“The River of the Immaculate Conception: In Commemoration of the Premiere of the Mass of the Americas is a poem in seven parts by James Matthew Wilson, published as a chapbook by Wiseblood Books. The following interview with the author about the poem was conducted by email.”


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First Things – March 2020

“In The River of the Immaculate Conception, James Matthew Wilson confirms his vocation as a public poet. Commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute, this poem sequence of seven parts leads us through the lives of St. Juan Diego, St. ­Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Père Marquette, with interludes on the interconnectedness of art, place, and theology.”


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First Things – March 2020

“This is all necessary preface to understanding another, warmer narrative that flows beneath the ice: in the words of poet James Matthew Wilson, “another history than the one we’re used to.” This narrative is the current into which Wilson’s newly released chapbook The River of the Immaculate Conception taps. The book consists of a song cycle divided into seven related but formally divergent parts. Each part highlights a different episode in the story of Catholic faith in America. The whole is both an echo of the structure of the Mass itself and, more specifically, a response to the music of Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas.”


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Catholic San Francisco – January 29, 2020

“Just a year after its premiere, the newly composed Mass setting ‘Mass of the Americas’ has reached the hands of Pope Francis, as Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone presented him with a hand-bound copy of the score on Jan. 27 at the Vatican.

Archbishop Cordileone said Pope Francis “reacted with a smile and his eyes lit up,” as he received the gift. In a phone interview from Rome, the archbishop explained to him that the Mass setting, which unites popular devotional music from Mexico with sacred polyphony, was being celebrated in cities in the U.S. and Mexico ‘with the vision of promoting unity among the people on the entire American continent.’”


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First Things – December 10, 2019

America as a Catholic Country by James Matthew Wilson

“When I was asked by the Benedict XVI Institute to write a poem in commemoration of Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas, which the Institute had commissioned, I knew that some part of that early education would find a place within it. In fact, I knew in my heart that it must be called The River of the Immaculate Conception, though I was not quite sure yet what that would mean.

La Rocca’s Mass was composed for performance within the liturgy for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In 2018, when the Mass premiered, that feast coincided with San Franciscans’ annual Cruzada Guadalupana, a pilgrimage made in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. La Rocca had been asked to draw on the traditional hymns of Mexico, and on prayers in the Spanish and Aztec languages, and to harmonize them with English and Latin. His Mass thus celebrates our country as one consecrated to the Immaculate Conception, but one which also lives under the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of all the Americas. La Rocca’s Mass asks us to learn to see the Americas as one in their Catholic faith, just as Pope Saint John Paul II asked us to do in Ecclesia in America (1999). The Americas are many, our countries are many, but we are all citizens of the City of God.”


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Religion en Libertad – November 26, 2019

“El sábado 16 de noviembre se celebró en la Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción de Washington, D.C., por primera vez según el rito tradicional, la Misa de las Américas, compuesta por Frank La Rocca e interpretada por el Coro Benedicto XVI bajo la batuta de Richard Sparks. Ofició la celebración el arzobispo de San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone. Tras la misa, al cantarse la Salve, el obispo Corazón de León (que es lo que significa su apellido en italiano) no pudo ocultar sus lágrimas de emoción. Puede verse el momento en el minuto 2:16:56, pero vale la pena escuchar la Salve completa desde el minuto 2:13:00, acompañada por la realización con imágenes de Nuestra Señora en distintos lugares del templo. A la derecha de monseñor Cordileone en ese momento se encuentra monseñor Charles Pope.”


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The Way of Beauty – November 21, 2019

“I haven’t had the privilege of hearing this in person, but readers may be interested to know of a newly composed music for the Extraordinary Form Mass. It was performed in Washington DC recently and was recorded by EWTN.”


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The Tower – November 21, 2019

“‘It was probably the most beautiful Mass I had ever attended,’ said Mary Boneno, a sophomore Theology major. ‘I especially loved how they incorporated the culture into the music, such as the traditional Mexican folk hymn sung during the vesting ceremony and the “Aue Maria” during the de-vesting ceremony.’ Boneno also stated that she thought it was ‘the proper amount of inculturation, in which the culture of the Americas was lifted up into the liturgy, rather than the liturgy being diluted to fit the culture.’”


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New Liturgical Movement – November 21, 2019

“Our publisher Dr William Mahrt attended the recent celebration of the Pontifical Mass in Washington DC, the first time Frank LaRocca’s Mass of the Americas was performed with the celebration of the Extraordinary Form, and was kind enough to share this review with us. A complete video of the ceremony is included below, and several pictures of the Mass, courtesy of photographers Matthew Barrick and Jeffrey Bruno, and the Benedict XVI Institute.”


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Fr. Dwight Longenecker – November 21, 2019

“I was privileged to have a front row seat for the Mass of the Americas in Washington last Saturday. Wow! What a fantastic experience! The Mass of the Americas is a production of the Benedict XVI Institute in San Francisco. The Mass on Saturday is the brainchild of Archbishop Cordileone. In the round table seminar after the Mass the Archbishop explained that for most of his life he had worked in California with Hispanic communities and he appreciated their folk religion Catholic customs and devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It also hit him that the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception occur in the church calendar within a few days of each other. The United States is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas. Why not commission a Mass setting which brings all these things together?”


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Our Sunday Visitor – November 19, 2019

“They had me at Santca Mariatzine. Although truth be told, that was the icing on the cake, so to speak, of the Mass of the Americas, a gift of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship. They say their mission is “opening the door of sacred beauty to bring people closer to God.” And Santca Mariatzine is the Ave Maria translated into the language Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke to Juan Diego.”


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Patheos: The Deacon’s Bench – November 18, 2019

“A few days back, I mentioned the debut of a new Pontifical Solemn High Mass, the Mass of the Americas, at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. It happened this past Saturday. You can watch below the full video of the Mass, celebrated by San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone. Worth noting are the first 20 minutes or so, which includes the archbishop being vested for the Mass. Among other things, he dons a dalmatic.’”


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Chiesa e post concilio – November 19, 2019

“Estrapolo da gloria.tv. L’arcivescovo di San Francisco (USA), Salvatore Cordileone, ha celebrato il 16 novembre l’annuale Messa Solenne Pontificale in Rito Antico nella Basilica dell’Immacolata Concezione a Washington D.C. L’enorme chiesa era gremita. Tra i fedeli c’era l’inviato di Gloria.tv Jungerheld.
Cordileone ha predicato che la bellezza nutre l’anima e ha suggerito che l’odierna mancanza di bellezza ‘spiega il turbamento spirituale in cui ci troviamo.’”


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Relevant Radio – November 18, 2019


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National Catholic Register – November 19, 2019

“Mary unites all of God’s children, sparking conversions among those of different faiths, said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco on Saturday. The archbishop pointed to Mary as a force for conversion and unity among different peoples at The Mass of the Americas in the extraordinary form, celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and aired on EWTN.”

Cordileone ha predicato che la bellezza nutre l’anima e ha suggerito che l’odierna mancanza di bellezza ‘spiega il turbamento spirituale in cui ci troviamo.’”


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Catholic News Agency – November 18, 2019

“Mary unites all of God’s children, sparking conversions among those of different faiths, said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco on Saturday, Nov. 16.The archbishop pointed to Mary as a force for conversion and unity among different peoples at the first-ever Mass of the Americas in the Extraordinary Form, held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.”

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Alleanza Cattolica – November 16, 2019

“Il valore di ogni santa Messa, si sa, è inestimabile. E, arrivati al momento della consacrazione, qualunque sia il grado di consapevolezza dei presenti, le formule liturgiche hanno la forza di infrangere le barriere del tempo e dello spazio: misteriosamente, ci si ritrova in compagnia di angeli e di santi del Paradiso ai piedi della croce, presenti al sacrificio per mezzo del quale Cristo ha redento il mondo.”

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Aleteia – November 18, 2019

“As the sun cast its first rays on the Capitol dome, thousands of faithful descended on the unofficial parish church of the United States’ capital, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, just outside the gates of the corridors of power, to raise their hearts to Christ in a prayer for the nation and a return to the sacred.”

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The Catholic Thing – November 18, 2019

“I had a similar experience this past Saturday morning. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco celebrated an Extraordinary Form Latin “Mass of the Americas” at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, accompanied by the music of Frank La Rocca, whom the archbishop had commissioned for that purpose. You can watch it by clicking here.”

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Fr. Z’s Blog – November 1, 2019

“Coming up in November, His Excellency Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, will celebrate a Pontifical Mass at the Throne at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.Those interested can learn more about the Mass of the Americas at the National Shrine, and the conference to take place afterwards, at www.MassOfTheAmericas.org. I wrote with questions to His Excellency concerning some elements of celebration of the Holy Mass with the traditional form.”

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Community in Mission – October 29, 2019

“I am pleased to announce that a Solemn Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be offered by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco on Saturday, November 16, 2019, at 10:00 AM at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Further details appear at the bottom of the post, but first allow me to provide some background.”

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Register Radio – October 25, 2019

“With Washington in political chaos and the Vatican on the heels of the synod of bishops discussing evangelization in the Amazon region, there couldn’t be a more fitting time for Mass of the Americas to be celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception November 16th.This week on Register Radio we find out what is so special about this mass at this moment when we speak with Archbishop Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.”

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Corpus Christi Watershed – October 24, 2019

“Solemn Pontifical High Masses are not common events, but one will be celebrated next month at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. The Mass will be offered by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco on Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 10 AM (EST).”

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The Missive – October 21, 2019

“On Saturday, November 16th, at 10 a.m., His Excellency the Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco will celebrate a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The event is hosted by the Benedict XVI Institute as part of a tour introducing the Mass of the Americas, a newly-composed Mass setting in the sacred music tradition of the Church. A free conference comprised of workshops and discussions with the composer and other Catholic artists will follow the Mass.”

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Washington Examiner – October 24, 2019

“In his archdiocese, Cordileone commissioned what became known as the Mass of the Americas, which brings together sounds from popular spiritual songs among Mexican Catholics with more traditional sacred music. He believes this mass helps to break down barriers between Americans and Mexicans.”

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Aleteia – October 24, 2019

“On Saturday, November 16, Massgoers in Washington, D.C., will hear a new setting that may have some of the characteristics of the classical Masses of the past few centuries but also is meant to carry the spiritual aspirations of people praying the liturgy. The composer is Frank La Rocca, and his work is titled “The Mass of the Americas.” Its first performance will take place in the context of a Solemn High Pontifical Mass honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary under her titles of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (the Patroness of Mexico and all of the Americas, and the Patroness of the United States). Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco will serve as the principal celebrant.”

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Catholic Herald – October 22, 2019


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Dappled Things: A Journal of Ideas, Art & Faith – September 2019

“In our era, new musical Mass settings are rarely commissioned. So, it’s notable that a new musical Mass was commissioned and premiered at a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone in San Francisco last December. For this article, I interviewed by email the respected Bay Area traditional sacred music composer, Frank La Rocca, who composed the Mass. We discussed when it is legitimate to call a musical composition a “Mass” and how he was able to incorporate multiple languages and non-traditional musical instruments and elevate them into a composition suitable for the sacred liturgy of the Catholic Church.’”

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National Catholic Register – August 3, 2019

“The archbishop noted that Frank La Rocca, the Benedict XVI Institute’s composer-in-residence, ‘created a superb new Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception called The Mass of the Americas.’ Its premiere was broadcast on EWTN and was so well received that, after being performed at San Francisco’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, La Rocca’s composition went to Tijuana and will be heading in the future to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., the Houston Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, and then on to Mexico City, Rome and beyond, ‘because it is both beautiful and original, and yet clearly part of the great sacred music tradition of the Church.’”

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Mosaic TV – April 7, 2019

Sunday, April 7, 5:30 am KPIX television Channel 5, CBS Bay Area The Benedict XVI Institute seeks to “open the door of beauty” as a path to God. On this episode of Mosaic, director Maggie Gallagher discusses the many activities of the Institute and its already numerous contributions and achievements in liturgy, sacred music, and the arts. Past episodes of Mosaic are archived and viewable at sfarch.org/mosaic-tv.

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Catholic Arts and Artists, Mosaic TV – February 2019


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California Catholic Daily – January 30, 2019


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New Liturgical Movement – September 27, 2018


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National Catholic Register – September 25, 2018


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Musings of a Pertinacious Paptist – September 4, 2018


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SF Chronicle – September 3, 2018


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New Liturgical Movement – August 28, 2018


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The Coming Home Network International – August 24, 2018


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USA Today – August 24, 2018


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Sonrise Morning Show – August 23, 2018


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Aleteia – August 22, 2018


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Catholicism.org – August 20, 2018


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MessaInLatino.It – August 18, 2017


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Catholic News Agency/EWTN News: August 15, 2018


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The Latin Mass Society in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough – August 14, 2018


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Catholic News Agency – August 13, 2018


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Mid-City Christian Ministry Network – August 1, 2018


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