Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco—who previously made headlines for denying communion to former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi due to her support for legal abortion—to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Announced by the Holy See Press Office alongside six other clergy members, the appointment to a five-year term on the Church’s highest court will not require Cordileone to relocate or step down from his local leadership, allowing him to continue serving as shepherd of his archdiocese while assisting the Holy Father in safeguarding the proper administration of ecclesiastical justice. Cordileone expressed a profound sense of stewardship regarding the role, emphasizing that church justice is ultimately ordered toward the salvation of souls and the protection of the faithful.
The archbishop’s national prominence grew significantly in 2021 when he issued a public letter urging pro-abortion Catholic politicians to refrain from receiving the Eucharist, followed a year later by a formal decree barring Pelosi from receiving communion within his archdiocese until she publicly repudiates her stance on abortion and receives absolution. Cordileone defended these actions by citing Church Canon Law and a 2004 directive from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger regarding individuals persisting in manifest grave sin, a move that coincided with broader, highly publicized debates among the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops over whether to implement nationwide disciplinary policies regarding Catholic politicians and abortion rights. In addition to his new Vatican appointment, Cordileone’s prominent standing was underscored last year when he was selected alongside two other U.S. bishops to join the advisory board of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission.
