There has been some confusion in conflicting reports as to whether Nacy Pelosi had met with Archbishop Niederauer prior to her trip to the Vatican. Fr. John Malloy, SDB believes that she did and writes a good post on possible reasons for the confusion about this.
Vatican City, Feb 18, 2009 / 10:18 am (CNA).- House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s photo-op with Pope Benedict XVI turned sour when the Pontiff used the 15-minute meeting to reaffirm the teachings of the Catholic Church on the right to life and the duty to protect the unborn.
No photo of Nancy Pelosi and the Pope will be forthcoming, since the meeting was closed to reporters and photographers. The two met in a small room in the Vatican just after the Pope’s weekly public audience.
Immediately after the meeting, the Holy See’s press office released a statement saying, “following the general audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage.”
“His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.”
A significant number of Catholic and pro-life organizations expressed concern over how Pelosi would use the meeting with Pope Benedict to further her position that it is possible to be Catholic and pro-abortion.
Last August, Pelosi was rebuked by several U.S. bishops for attempting to theologically justify her position during an interview with “Meet the Press.”
On Tuesday, Jon O’Brien, president of “Catholics for Choice,” a small, well-funded organization that provides theological arguments to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, told The Hill that today’s visit between the Speaker and Pope Benedict would be an opportunity to highlight that one can be pro-choice and Catholic, and that there are much bigger issues out there to discuss, such as the fate of the poor in the global economic downturn.
“That would be a real conversation about choice, instead of this micro-obsession with abortion,” O’Brien said.
Nevertheless, according to the Holy See’s statement, the Pope spent the whole 15 minute conversation talking with Pelosi about the right to life and the need to defend the unborn.
A spokesman for Pelosi, who is now headed to Southern Italy as part of her Italian tour, said she would issue a statement later in the day regarding her meeting with the Pope.
I already love Pope Benedict XVI, but this makes me add a double scoop of loving on top. I best Nancy Pelosi felt just as comfortable as the Clintons did at the prayer breakfast with Blessed Mother Teresa when she firmly reminded them about life.
In related news it turns out that Nancy Pelosi finally met with her archbishop on the 8th of Feb. It would give me great joy if she does turn towards protecting life – though I am not holding my breath in the main time.
The meeting with the Pope was closed to reporters. But inside sources tell me that the Speaker of the House’s expression was much like this.
I need your inspirational stories from a Catholic perspective affirming marriage and the family for a new book.
In it, I plan to share 15 compelling faith-filled stories of hope and healing from Catholic families who have dealt with great difficulties and hardships, but have managed to transcend these trials through the grace of God and the intercession of the saints.
Have you experienced great suffering in your family life, but managed to overcome it and experience great hope and unexpected graces in the midst of your trials through the intercession of a special saint or saints? Do you have a child who is handicapped, but instead of ‘terminating’ the pregnancy, you chose to keep your child? Has your family had to deal with unexpected financial hardships, debilitating or chronic illness but received healing and hope to transcend these trials? Has anyone in your family considered or had an abortion and the entire family was devastated by it, but God healed you and gave you hope? Have you dealt with marital infidelity or addictions that have been overcome through the intercession of a saint or saints? Has a spouse been converted to the faith through your prayers?
Would you like to help and inspire others through your witness?
Your story should be 1800 – 2000 words in length.
I am looking for content and not perfection in writing, as I will be editing the stories.
Due Date: March 15, 2009
Email your story in a Microsoft Word attachment to:
A reader sent me the following:
Manassas, Va. – Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino has publicly criticized Misericordia University for its scheduled February 17 lecture by gay rights advocate Keith Boykin. The Cardinal Newman Society, which reported on the planned lectures last week, praised Bishop Martino for calling Misericordia to task in the abuse of its Catholic identity.
Keith Boykin, who served President Bill Clinton as special assistant in his administration, is a regular contributor to CNBC. Boykin is an avid supporter of gay rights and was president of the National Black Justice Coalition, an organization established in 2003 to organize African American support for same-sex marriage rights. Boykin is the New York Times best-selling author of One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America, in which he discusses his own “coming out,” his first sexual experience, and the lives of prominent black and gay individuals.
Bishop Martino called Boykin’s beliefs “disturbingly opposed to Catholic moral teaching,” according to The Times Tribune. He also expressed “absolute disapproval” of the appearance of an “avid supporter of same-sex marriage” at Misericordia.
The Diocese of Scranton issued a statement which reads in part: “The faithful of the Diocese of Scranton… should be in no doubt that Misericordia University in this instance is seriously failing in maintaining its Catholic identity.”
Yesterday Damian Thompson reported:
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has invoked Canon Law to justify banning Archbishop Raymond Burke, a senior Vatican prelate, from saying the traditional Latin Mass at Westminster Cathedral in June.
Yesterday Damian also noted on Twitter that this is the same Cathedral where the 99 names of Allah were said set to music.
Today Father Z gives a nicely balanced perspective on this. Surely the Cardinal was well within his rights to do this, but prudentially this was a mistake to say the least.
Today Damian Thompson tweeted.
Cardinal Cormac tells God that Second Coming has not been cleared with his office. Invokes Canon Law.
Last October I posted on the Obama votive candle with his face on the body of St. Martin de Porres which Mark Steyn labeled “Votive early, Votive often.” A reader sent me in an update.
He may be the Second Coming to many San Franciscans – but one local Catholic priest wants a popular prayer candle with President Obama’s picture on it pulled from a local gift shop, saying it “mocks Jesus” and “depicts our beloved saints in a not so saintly way.”
The Rev. Tony La Torre of St. Philip the Apostle Church, in ever-hip Noe Valley, is so riled up that he’s calling for a boycott of the neighborhood’s Just For Fun card and novelty shop, which has been selling the $15 candles at a fast clip.
The candles feature the president’s halo-adorned head plastered onto the crucifix-clutching body of St. Martin de Porres, the Peruvian-born friar regarded as one of the first black saints in the Americas.
“I am appalled that in such a family-oriented neighborhood, any retailer would be so bigoted and so hateful (as) to carry such merchandise just to ‘make a buck,’ ” La Torre declared recently in the parish newsletter.
Store owners Robert Ramsey and David Eiland say they’ve sold more than 700 candles since putting them on display over the Christmas holiday.
And while the candles are a big hit, Ramsey says they’re not much different from the line of gag gifts they’ve been selling without complaint at the store on upper 24th Street for the past 22 years.
Yeah they put them right next to the prayer rugs picturing Obama as Mohammed – oh wait they don’t have that.
But to La Torre, the candles featured in a big window display were “the final straw” for a store “that feels the need to mock and ridicule the Catholic/Christian faith.”
It’s not first time “anti-Catholic, anti-Christian” attitudes, as La Torre calls them, have been decried in the city.
A couple of years back, Archbishop George Niederauer said he had been duped into giving communion to a couple of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – cross-dressing, prankster “nuns” – prompting outrage from religious conservatives across the country.
The candle commotion might have passed quickly, except that La Torre also described the store’s owners as Jewish (they’re not) and urged parishioners not only to boycott the store but to “be sure to poke your head in … and tell them why.”
The San Francisco Archdiocese weighed in, contacting the priest to express its concern over his “Jewish” reference. La Torre has since retracted the reference, saying he only meant that the owners – if Jewish, as he says he was led to believe – “should know what it feels like to be mocked and ridiculed.”
That certainly didn’t help matters and wasn’t germane to the matter at hand even if true.
The owners ignored La Torre’s offer to meet with them to discuss his concerns, but did post a copy of the priest’s newsletter in their store window – right next to the king-size, 2-foot-tall version of the Obama candle that had set him off.
So far, the only effect of the controversy seems to be free advertising and a demand for even more candles.
“Tomorrow, I got 72 more coming,” Ramsey said.
That is always part of the prudential decision to boycott since it can give free advertising and in this case drive sales. Too bad it was mostly the local pastor seemed to be upset by these candles. This is really and act desecration by sacrilege whenever something sacred including sacramental is used for an unworthy purpose. This is more than just a political novelty, but a mocking of the Catholic faith – something that seems to be a constant theme in San Francisco.
My thoughts on the Kindle 2 over at my tech blog.
On Al Kresta’s radio show on Friday they discussed the Legionaire responses due to the scandalous life of Fr. Marcial Maciel. Thomas of American Papist was one of the guests on the show and did an excellent job addressing this, though he has been doing yeomen’s work on the subject on his blog.
You can subscribe to Al Kresta’s podcast of his show via this link in iTunes or other podcaster.
On a side note previously I only heard Al Kresta’s show from time to time if I happened to be driving when his show was on Catholic radio. I liked what I heard, but now that I found he has a podcast feed of his show I am able to listen to all of his full shows. I listen to a good amount of Catholic Radio and Catholic podcasts, but Al’s show is more like a regular talk show that ranges on topics from the Catholic Church to the daily news, politics, etc. Really quite a worthwhile show.
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin conducts an imaginary interview with President Obama. Pretty awesome stuff. Thanks to the reader who sent this in.