News

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C, February 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Reports have surfaced that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a self-avowed “Catholic” adamant abortion supporter, intends to head a delegation to Euope that will meet with Pope Benedict XVI.

Today the Drudge Report headlined a report by Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) on Houston’s KSEV radio that Pelosi hopes to pass the federal economic stimulus bill in time for her join the group, which reportedly leaves Friday evening.

According to Il Tempo, Pelosi will arrive in Rome Sunday afternoon, her first visit to the city since becoming Speaker of the House.  It has not been determined when Ms. Pelosi plans to meet the Pope.

Speaker Pelosi has drawn severe criticism from Catholic leaders for her misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine in light of her extreme pro-abortion position.

In a Meet the Press appearance last August, Pelosi justified her support for abortion despite professing Catholicism by saying that “the doctors of the Church haven’t been able to make that definition” on whether life begins at conception.

“The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose,” she continued.  “This isn’t about abortion on demand, it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and – to – that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god.”

In September Pelosi’s bishop, Archbishop Niederauer of San Francisco, invited her to discuss witih him the abortion issue.  Pelosi stated she would “welcome the opportunity,” but there is no report of Pelosi having yet scheduled a meeting with the archbishop.

Fr. Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International (HLI), told LifeSiteNews.com that HLI will be briefing the Vatican “so they are aware of her dismal record on life issues.

“It is our hope that the Holy Father will not grant the floundering Speaker of the House what she surely wants and expects, a quick and valuable photo-op, but will rather give her a stern lecture on contraception and abortion and let her know that her eternal salvation is in danger,” said Fr. Euteneuer. 

“Further, this would be the perfect opportunity to formally excommunicate the Speaker, as she has done everything a public official possibly can to declare her lack of communion with the Holy Father and the Roman Catholic Church on every conceivable issue.”

See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

“Catholic” Speaker Pelosi Denies that Catholicism Condemns Abortion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082502.html

Pelosi Spokeswoman About-face: Catholic Church “Clear” on Life Teaching After All – But Catholics Need Not Listen
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082706.html

Cardinals, Bishops and Congressmen Slam Pelosi on Abortion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082601.html