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Pope to Pelosi: Reject abortion support
Associated Press
Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: News
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The U.S. House speaker, a Catholic, was the first top Democrat to meet with Benedict since the election of Barack Obama, who won a majority of the U.S. Catholic vote despite differences with the Vatican on abortion.
On his fourth day in office last month, Obama ended a ban on funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option - a sharp policy change from former President George W. Bush's Republican administration.
The Vatican's attempts to keep the Pelosi visit low-profile displayed its obvious unease with the new U.S. administration. Benedict and Bush had found common ground in opposing abortion, an issue that drew them together despite their differences over the war in Iraq.
Wednesday's meeting, in a small room off a Vatican auditorium after the pope's weekly public audience, was closed to reporters and photographers.
The Vatican also said - contrary to its usual policy when the pope meets world leaders - that it was not issuing either a photo or video of the encounter, claiming the meeting was private.
A short statement from the Vatican said the pope "briefly greeted" Pelosi and did not mention any other subject they may have discussed besides abortion.
In their 15-minute meeting, the Vatican said Benedict spoke of the church's teaching "on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death." That is an expression often used by the pope when expressing opposition to abortion.
Benedict said all Catholics - especially legislators, jurists and political leaders - should work to create "a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development," the Vatican said.
Pelosi, for her part, did not even mention the pope's allusion to abortion.
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