A Vatican official in Rome says House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic, should be denied Communion because she supports abortion rights.

“This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin — cooperating with the crime of procured abortion,” Raymond Cardinal Leo Burke said in an interview with Catholic publication The Wanderer.

In 2008, Burke was appointed to the Vatican’s Supreme Court. He said Catholic Church law, Canon 915, says Pelosi’s “sin” should prevent her from receiving Communion, a holy time of worship.

The Cardinal was asked about a June comment Pelosi made about Kermit Gosnell, a doctor who ran an abortion clinic and was convicted for murder.

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At the press conference on an abortion bill, Pelosi said, “As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this. I don’t think it should have anything to do with politics."

“To say that these are simply questions of Catholic Faith which have no part in politics is just false and wrong,” Cardinal Burke said.

“I fear for Congresswoman Pelosi if she does not come to understand how gravely in error she is. I invite her to reflect upon the example of St. Thomas More who acted rightly in a similar situation even at the cost of his life.”

Sir Thomas More — a 16th century English lawyer, scholar and member of Parliament — is known for his fictional work, Utopia. He was found guilty of treason and beheaded in London for defending Catholicism.

This story was updated at 3:21 p.m.