The Spirit breathes afresh

I must say that I am delighted - surprised, but delighted -at the overwhelming response to Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi's outrageous false claims about the stance of the Catholic Church toward abortion over the years.

If you are yet unaware of what she said in a interview with Tom Brokaw on NBC's Meet the Press, you must be living under a larger rock than I.

As if in answer to Amy Welborn's impassioned plea to use her words as a teaching moment, the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Denver, and the Most Reverend James D. Conley, Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, responded to Speaker Pelosi.

The Most Rev. Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. responded to her comments.

Ten Catholic legislators have responded to her words, distancing themselves from her.

And what is more - and, sadly, the most surprising of all - the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops itself has responded! (I daresay this would never have happened without the publication of the excellent article on canon 915 by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, the recently appointed Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.)

In what, so far as I can recall, is a first, Justin Cardinal Regali, Chairman of the Committee on Pro-life Activities, and Bishop William E. Lori, Chairman of the Committee on Doctrine and Pastoral Practices, issued a joint statement corrected Pelosi's blatantly false depiction of the teachings of the Church's teachings.

Thomas Peters, the American Papist, who, as always, is well on top of these matters, summarizes well Speaker Pelosi's current situation:

Where does that leave her? In the position of having lied either about the actual position of the Church, or about her claim that her position is a legitimate one within the teachings of the Catholic church.

This should get most interesting indeed.