Pelolsi meets Pope, gets a diplomatic finger wag

Pope Benedict XVI reportedly chided Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi - a pro-abortion Catholic - for her support of legal abortion during a February 18 meeting.

Pelosi, who with no sense of shame (or understanding?) describes herself as an "ardent Catholic," met briefly with the Pope. After the meeting, the Vatican took the unusual step of releasing a statement about the meeting:

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.

Given the normal diplomatic tone of such meetings, that's a kind of papal slap on the wrist.

Given her track record, though, I suspect she will only hear what she wants to hear, and misinterpret even that.