By Hilary White
SAN FRANCISCO, September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Calling it his “particular duty” as a bishop to correct “erroneous, misleading and confusing positions” held by those in public office, San Francisco’s Archbishop George H. Niederauer has become the eleventh US bishop personally to correct House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her remarks on abortion in a television interview on August 24.
Archbishop Niederauer praised Pelosi as a “gifted, dedicated and accomplished public servant” who has helped to pass legislation that has been in accord with “some” of the Church’s social teachings. However, the archbishop said, her unique ideas claiming justification for abortion “are in opposition to Church teaching.”
Pelosi told an interviewer August 24 on Meet the Press that she believed as an “ardent” Catholic, that the Church’s teaching and scriptures were inconclusive and that therefore disagreement on abortion was possible. She said, referring to the Church’s leadership, “So there’s some areas where we’re in agreement and some areas where we’re not, and one being a woman’s right to choose, and the other being stem cell research.”
Niederauer said that “many Catholics” had written letters and emailed him expressing their “dismay and concern” about the Speaker’s remarks.
He quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1st century Christian documents and the Second Vatican Council, saying, “As Catholics, we believe what the Church authoritatively teaches on matters of faith and morals, for to hear the voice of the Church on those matters is to hear the voice of Christ himself.”
Speaker Pelosi’s office countered the public outcry following the interview with a statement that said, “While Catholic teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do not ascribe [sic] to that view.”
Niederauer specifically refuted this saying, “Authentic moral teaching is based on objective truth, not polling.”
“That statement suggests that morality can be decided by poll, by numbers. If ninety percent of Catholics subscribe to the view that human life begins at conception, does that makes Church teaching truer than if only seventy percent or fifty percent agree?”
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a joint statement in which Speaker Pelosi’s ideas about both theology and science were shown to be hundreds of years out of date. “In the Middle Ages,” the USCCB statement said, “uninformed and inadequate theories” led to speculation about the moment at which a human soul is infused with the body. But, the bishops said, these “mistaken biological theories became obsolete over 150 years ago when scientists discovered that a new human individual comes into being from the union of sperm and egg at fertilization.”
“In keeping with this modern understanding, the Church teaches that from the time of conception (fertilization), each member of the human species must be given the full respect due to a human person, beginning with respect for the fundamental right to life.”
Archbishop Niederauer also said that “very often” the people who wrote to him about Speaker Pelosi, had asked him about the question of refusing Holy Communion to Catholic politicians and public figures who formally and publicly opposed Catholic teaching on such key issues as abortion.
Despite several clear instructions from Vatican officials, the archbishop declined to make a statement, referring only to a document published in 2004 by the US Conference. That document “Catholics in Political Life,” also refused directly to address the issue, despite an instruction from then-Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XIV, instructing bishops that such public figures “must” be refused Communion. Instead, the document, and Archbishop Niederauer said that a person who supports legal abortion “should refrain” from presenting himself for Communion.
Archbishop Niederauer concludes, “I regret the necessity of addressing these issues in so public a forum, but the widespread consternation among Catholics made it unavoidable. Speaker Pelosi has often said how highly she values her Catholic faith, and how much it is a source of joy for her. Accordingly, as her pastor, I am writing to invite her into a conversation with me about these matters.”