I've already addressed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi 's past attempts to establish her own personal magisterium on doctrinal matters . She is not alone, but her prominence has prompted more than a few U.S. bishops to challenge her public statements and issue clarifications regarding Catholic moral teaching on abortion. When pro-life Catholics heard she was on her way to Rome, they worried that Pelosi would use a papal "photo-op" for her own purposes. Looks like Rome has anticipated such an effort, and Vatican Radio issued this statement in the wake of Pelosi's meeting with the pontiff.
Meanwhile, Our Sunday Visitor contributing editor, Valerie Schmalz, reported that attempts by San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer to initiate a pastoral dialogue with Pelosi have stalled: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an outspoken abortion rights advocate, has not been able to find a time to meet with San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer in the nearly six months since she told Tom Brokaw on ABC's Meet the Press that "we don't know" when life begins and that the Catholic Church's prohibition on abortion dated back about "50 years."
Schmalz elicits this explanation from the Catholic Church in San Francisco: "While she initially accepted the archbishop's invitation to a pastoral meeting, she has not been able to arrange such a meeting on her schedule despite our putting forward several available dates," said Maurice Healy, spokesman for the archbishop, in a Feb. 13 e-mail.
*** UPDATE *** Turns out OSV has issued a clarification. Pelosi has met with her bishop.
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