I thought I had seen and heard it all when it came to (so-called) Catholic politicians rejecting their church’s teaching on abortion. But Nancy Pelosi has not just pushed the envelope of taste, reason and compassion; she has blown a gaping hole in it with her recent remarks about her version of “immigration reform.”
Immigration? But you said abortion. While she talks about immigration reform, the way she frames it and why she says we should care about it as Catholic Christians are in violent contradiction of what she has done for – or to – the unborn.
Never mind the utterly comical aspect of Nancy Pelosi telling Catholic bishops and cardinals what they should be doing. That the faithful cannot ask, cajole, tweak and even more forcefully urge the Catholic hierarchy into action is not at issue. Indeed, the Church’s history has many instances of just that happening, often for the betterment of the Church. But when the cajoler is Pelosi, the dichotomy is almost of Alice-in-Wonderland proportion.
In the clip above she says she hopes there is “one thing that we can do working together … that speaks to what the Bible tells us about the dignity and worth of every person.”
Moreover, she says the Catholic hierarchy must tell the people to support her version of immigration reform because it “is a manifestation of our living the Gospels.”
But for Nancy Pelosi, the unborn simply do not rise to the level of dignity and worth the Bible and the Catholic faith confirm each person has. No faithful Catholic Christian could honestly say that allowing abortion and/or promoting abortion by having it paid for through government-forced insurance coverage is in any way “a manifestation of our living the Gospels.”
Among all the instances in her political career that she refused to protect unborn life, let’s look at just one: adding her name to the Statement of Principles issued by 55 House Democrats in 2006. Once again, Pelosi, along with the others (notice Bart Stupak’s name among them), told the Catholic Church, bishops and cardinals, the right way to interpret Church and biblical teaching. This time, it was about abortion.
Unfortunately, it was nothing more than their rationalization of how they believe they can get away with supporting abortion. It showed poor understanding and appreciation of the Church ‘s teaching about the sanctity of life, conscience and even social justice. They wrongly believe their efforts to help the poor (regardless of efficacy) somehow absolve, or make up for, their rejection of protecting the unborn. They purport to follow Church teaching while rejecting it.
As Pope John Paul said:
At the same time a new cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives crimes against life a new and-if possible-even more sinister character, giving rise to further grave concern: broad sectors of public opinion justify certain crimes against life in the name of the rights of individual freedom, and on this basis they claim not only exemption from punishment but even authorization by the State, so that these things can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free assistance of health-care systems.
… not only is the fact of the destruction of so many human lives still to be born or in their final stage extremely grave and disturbing, but no less grave and disturbing is the fact that conscience itself, darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of human life.
Issuance of a statement of principles points to another absurdity of Pelosi’s plea to the bishops and cardinals to direct the faithful to support her immigration reform.
The clergy of all levels have been talking about the evil of abortion for centuries. It only intensified since Roe. Pope John Paul’s quotes above are from 1995.
Still, these so-called Catholic politicians continue to stand up for a woman’s “right to choose.” They continue to approve funds for the nation’s largest abortion provider. They continue to take campaign money from ardent supporters and promoters of abortion.
If only they would listen.
