By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a pro-abortion Catholic who claimed earlier this year that she had a duty to pursue policies “in keeping with the values” of Jesus Christ, recently refused to answer a reporter who asked when she thought Jesus received the right to life.
According to CNSNews.com, when asked the question during last week’s press briefing, Pelosi told the reporter: “Whenever it was, we bow our heads when we talk about it in church, and that’s where I’d like to talk about that.”
She again dodged the question a short while later when the same CNS reporter submitted a written question asking whether the speaker believed Jesus had a right to life from the moment of conception. Her press secretary responded: “The speaker answered the question. Thanks.”
Pelosi is an ardent supporter of abortion who has frequently run afoul of U.S. Catholic bishops. She caused a national scandal in 2008 during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press when she told host Tom Brokaw that the Church’s teaching on when life begins is unclear.
In December, 2009, she told Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift that she had been personally counseled by San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer about her view on abortion and other moral issues, but insisted that she has no intention of changing her opinion.
She lived up to her word during the contentious health care reform battle earlier this year by playing an instrumental role in passage of the pro-abortion bill.
On July 15, Planned Parenthood honored her role in the historic legislation by awarding her the “Champion of Women’s Health” award.
“As the first female Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi was instrumental in the passage of the historic health care reform legislation,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement issued on the day of the award. “During the health care reform debate she led her female colleagues in Congress as they stood strong against attempts to insert the Stupak abortion ban into the bill. Against tremendous odds, she delivered the necessary 219 votes to send the bill to President Obama’s desk.”
And yet on May 6 of this year, while speaking at a Catholic Community Conference on Capitol Hill, Pelosi spoke glowingly about Jesus: “They ask me all the time, ‘What is your favorite this? What is your favorite that? What is your favorite that?’ And one time, ‘What is your favorite word?’ And I said, ‘My favorite word? That is really easy. My favorite word is the Word, is the Word. And that is everything. It says it all for us. And you know the biblical reference, you know the Gospel reference of the Word.”
“And that Word,” Pelosi said, “is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word. The Word. Isn’t it a beautiful word when you think of it? It just covers everything. The Word.”
After hearing her most recent comments about Jesus’ right to life, Catholic writer Matthew Archbald of the Creative Minority Report called Pelosi “an embarrassment to herself, to Catholics, and to Congress.”
He added: “Remember this is the Nancy Pelosi who lives for The Word. I guess The Word had to wait to be born until He had a right to life.”
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