Posted on 02/18/2009 12:08:41 PM PST by NYer
.- House speaker Nancy Pelosis photo-op with Pope Benedict XVI turned sour when the Pontiff used the 15-minute meeting to reaffirm the teachings of the Catholic Church on the right to life and the duty to protect the unborn.
No photo of Nancy Pelosi and the Pope will be forthcoming, since the meeting was closed to reporters and photographers. The two met in a small room in the Vatican just after the Pope's weekly public audience.
Immediately after the meeting, the Holy Sees press office released a statement saying, "following the general audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage."
"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."
A significant number of Catholic and pro-life organizations expressed concern over how Pelosi would use the meeting with Pope Benedict to further her position that it is possible to be Catholic and pro-abortion.
Last August, Pelosi was rebuked by several U.S. bishops for attempting to theologically justify her position during an interview with "Meet the Press."
On Tuesday, Jon OBrien, president of "Catholics for Choice," a small, well-funded organization that provides theological arguments to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, told The Hill that todays visit between the Speaker and Pope Benedict would be an opportunity to highlight that one can be pro-choice and Catholic, and that there are much bigger issues out there to discuss, such as the fate of the poor in the global economic downturn.
"That would be a real conversation about choice, instead of this micro-obsession with abortion," OBrien said.
Nevertheless, according to the Holy See's statement, the Pope spent the whole 15 minute conversation talking with Pelosi about the right to life and the need to defend the unborn.
A spokesman for Pelosi, who is now headed to Southern Italy as part of her Italian tour, said she would issue a statement later in the day regarding her meeting with the Pope.
So no photo-op for Pelosi!
Which details are new?
I'll put my money on the Pope.
The Pope slapped her? :)
No, the "plight of the poor" is NOT a bigger issue than the wholesale murder of the unborn.
Yes, let's have a real conversation about choice,
like - what vehicle I want to drive, what charity I want to contribute my hard earned income to (or not), whether I want to subsidize fatherless bastards, what I can eat, where I can send my kids to school...
yes, let's have a real conversation about "choice"
Glad the meeting was private.He must of zapped her good and with a smile.
Unless he publicly and immediately excommunicates the whole bloody bunch, then I’m not impressed.
Would like to have been a fly on the wall to see and hear that conversation. How would the introductions have gone....”Good, I want to introduce you to Evil. Evil, this is Good.”
Probably had a look of shock and anger frozen on that plastic face of hers. They were afraid the cameras were going to shatter after a bunch of mirrors she was around cracked and burned.
They would still say they were catholic and still keep going to church. They’d probably still get communion.
Pelosi went to see the Pope. Why? What was her purpose for the meeting?
Applause Benedict.
Nancy is trying to figure out how to spin it.
If she went on this trip at our expense for a supposed Govt purpose then she owes us a better report than: I showed him family pictures and my husband and I were thrilled and I thanked him for his support on Global Warming.
If the Pope had splashed holy water on her, she'd have melted.
Notice how all she talks about is what she told him?
I am convinced that just about every politician in D.C.that professes a faith or belongs to a church does so for the political and social networking benefits it provides.
No significant additions to the news, seems to me.
She didn’t mind the rebuking so much, but when he doused her with holy water..well that just burned her hide. *snicker*
Good for the Pope!
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