WASHINGTON — San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a notice Friday that he would no longer allow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to receive Communion after she has not repudiated her pro-abortion stance.

In a public notification to Pelosi, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote that he had warned Pelosi in April that she must either repudiate her support of abortion rights or not refer to her Catholicism in justifying them, and that Pelosi declined to meet with him.

“As you have not publicly repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come,” Cordileone wrote. “Therefore, in light of my responsibility as the Archbishop of San Francisco to be ‘concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care’ … I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance.”

Pelosi has brushed aside Cordileone’s attacks in the past, including last fall, saying they had a “disagreement” over the issue of abortion.

The Catholic Church has always maintained that abortion is a mortal sin as the Catechism  states unambiguously “abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.” (CCC 2271)

“I believe that God has given us a free will to honor our responsibilities,” Pelosi said last fall. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cordileone’s move was an escalation over the matter of the sanctity of life, and comes as the issue has taken on new significance in the wake of a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would erase the abortion rights protections established in the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade case. His declaration will apply to priests under his archdiocese.

In a letter to those priests, Cordileone noted his outreach to Pelosi asking for meetings, which he said were rebuffed, and included a background document detailing what he labeled as Pelosi’s “extreme” position on the issue.