The professed Catholic denies she has fallen afoul of Catholic teaching on abortion, while the archbishop of San Francisco disagrees. What’s next for the former speaker?

For many Catholics, learning that the Vatican has a file open on former speaker Nancy Pelosi probably isn’t much of a shock. Over the years, the congresswoman has had her differences with the Catholic Church, of which she remains a member. Most notably on abortion.

But what might surprise many was the news last week that it was Pelosi who referred her own case to Rome, appealing a 2022 injunction by her local shepherd in San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, that she be denied Holy Communion over her long and strident support for legal abortion in the United States.

For a woman who has made no bones about defying the church when her politics demand it, it is curious now to see Pelosi of all people appealing to the Vatican for judgment. Unfortunately for her, she’s unlikely to receive a favorable response, or any response at all, at least anytime soon.