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Bishop on Nancy Pelosi: It's "Categorically Impossible" to be Catholic and Hold Abortion is "Just a Choice"

By John-Henry Westen

PORTLAND, OR, March 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "It is categorically impossible for the same person to state that he or she believes simultaneously both what the Catholic Church teaches and that abortion is just a choice," says Bishop Robert Vasa in a column released today by the Catholic Sentinel, the diocesan newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland and the Diocese of Baker.

Although Vasa, the Bishop of Baker, did not mention her by name, he was referring in his column to Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi specifically, and to all politicians of a similar ilk in general. 

"Some months ago a prominent Catholic public person," says Vasa, "described as faithful to the church, was asked if being pro-choice or pro-abortion was an issue which conflicted with the Catholic Faith."  He goes on to quote verbatim what Nancy Pelosi stated in a highly publicized interview with Newsweek in October last year.  "To me it isn't even a question. God has given us a free will. We're all responsible for our actions. If you don't want an abortion, you don't believe in it, [then] don't have one. But don't tell somebody else what they can do in terms of honoring their responsibilities."

Vasa then adds a comment by Pelosi's daughter Alexandra Pelosi, calling her only a "close relative" of the unnamed prominent Catholic.  Alexandra was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 17 as saying that according to her Catholic school education neither abortion nor homosexuality were wrong, "They were just choices." 

"It seems to me that there are just choices and there are unjust choices," counters Bishop Vasa. "Choices would be the preference for chocolate ice cream over vanilla ice cream or sherbet instead of ice cream. That is just a choice."

"A just choice would be to choose to pay a fair and living wage to employees as opposed to simply meeting the mandatory standard of minimum wage laws," he wrote.  "An unjust choice would be to choose to terminate the life of another human being. This is not just a choice and it is not a just choice; it is an unjust choice."

"Furthermore it is an unjust choice which is diametrically opposed to the clear and consistent teaching of the Catholic Church as well as to the clear and consistent teaching of God Himself in the Ten Commandments. The direct, intentional taking of the life of an innocent human being is inhumane and unjust. It is not just a choice!," wrote the Bishop.

Although not referenced in Bishop Vasa's column, the younger Pelosi commented about her mother to the Chronicle saying: "My mother, throughout her entire life, has been faithful o [sic] the Church, even though the Church has not been that faithful to her because of her politics. And I think that takes a lot of perseverance. And still, people protest her right to go to her own church."

Bishop Vasa concludes his column "It is categorically impossible for the same person to state that he or she believes simultaneously both what the Catholic Church teaches and that abortion is just a choice."

See Bishop Vasa's full column:
http://www.sentinel.org/articles/2007-9/15257.html

See the San Francisco Chronicle article in question:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/17/DDG2SNJH3538.DTL

See the Newsweek interview with Pelosi:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15387929/site/newsweek/ ;

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