A 'Heads up' for Pope Benedict

Deal Hudson has a few words of friendly warning for Pope Benedict before Nancy Pelosi shows up at the front steps of the Vatican.

With the debilitating illness of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Pelosi has become the de facto leader of dissident Catholic members of Congress.

It's only appropriate that Pelosi should take Kennedy's place. When she became Speaker in January 2006, she chose Rev. Robert Drinan, S.J., as the celebrant of the Mass held in her honor. The late Father Drinan, a longtime professor of law at Georgetown University, had been the architect of the arguments now used as cover by Catholic politicians who wish to dodge the abortion issue. This effort began in 1964, when Father Drinan was among a small group of theologians who visited Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to school the Kennedy clan on how to finesse the abortion issue in politics.

Pelosi's 100 percent voting record on abortion, according to NARAL, is commonplace among Catholic Democrats in the House, but Pelosi is, perhaps, the most vocal among them. For example, millions of dollars for contraceptives were cut from the first version of the stimulus package; 0nly Pelosi, rather incoherently, defended the funding.

In August, she made such outrageous comments about the Church on Meet the Press that she single-handedly endangered President Barack Obama's outreach to Catholic voters. When, to support her pro-abortion stance on when life begins, she asserted, "Over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition," Pelosi elicited a rebuke not only from her ordinary, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, but also from dozens of other bishops.

Hudson thinks it's a good idea for Pope Benedict to meet with Speaker Pelosi because "one can never underestimate the impact of being in his presence." (In other words, a miracle might take place.) He also holds out hope that the pope might offer reporters remarks critical of Pelosi's legislative accomplishments, perhaps admonishing President Obama "for ending the Mexico City Policy and warning the new Congress against passing the Freedom of Choice Act."

I think this is the correct way to view the situation although I, like many Catholics, are very unhappy that this dissident woman thinks she represents us!

Will Pelosi receive communion in Rome? Probably. To her own eventual detriment, unless she repents.

You can be sure that Pelosi will choreograph her visit to get maximum exposure of her Catholic identity -- down to a photograph of her entering St. Peter's Basilica in a veil, no doubt. Pelosi, of course, should be denied communion, but it is unlikely to happen. Any priest who celebrates Mass with Pelosi present will be carefully chosen beforehand in order to avoid embarrassment to the Speaker and her entourage.

One final quote is in order. You may recognize it:

"Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!" (Mt. 18:7)