Pelosi an Embarrassment; Her Archbishop Calls Her In

When asked on a recent “Meet the Press” interview when human life begins, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reached into outer space and floated her version of Catholic teaching which is that only recently did the Church conclude that life begins at conception. She claimed the Church did not have longstanding policies on abortion and the beginning of human life and intimated that this “evolution” of Catholic teaching made it acceptable for Catholics to come to their own conclusions. Wow, where has she been for the past 40 years, but I digress already having hinted that it is outer space.
Note that Pelosi was not asked a theological question but a scientific one. As even Obama is now doing on the subject of when human life begins, when caught with a direct question to which there is a direct answer, conjure up some theological, non-sensical — even untrue — rhetoric to obscure the obvious.

Bravo to numerous bishops who climbed all over her, including our own Wisconsin bishop, Jerome Listecki. In a news release, Listecki said: “To say that there is ambiguity about when human life begins is utterly and completely false, and any Catholic (which Speaker Pelosi professes to be) who tries to interpret Church teaching in such a manner gives scandal and misleads the faithful.”

Pelosi went one step further in defending her non-position by claiming that in San Francisco, where she lives, Church teaching is different. Really. San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer has reiterated the statements of ten U.S. bishops who have taken Pelosi to task and invited her to a personal meeting. Pelosi responded that she would “welcome the opportunity for our personal conversation and to go beyond our earlier most cordial exchange about immigration and needs of the poor to Church teaching on other significant matters.”

Trying to change the subject on the Archbishop? I don’t think so. Stay tuned, and let us know what you think of Pelosi Politics.

Barbara Lyons