Today: Pelosi meets the Pope

Associated Press photo, taken during Pope Benedict's visit to Washington DC last year:

I'm not prone to hyperbole, but when I see this photo, the first thing I think of is "Kiss of Judas."
Nancy Pelosi, in her record of public service, has continually worked against the common good of humanity as proclaimed and defended by the Catholic Church. She is a vigorous supporter of abortion on demand, and has even claimed that her activity in this regard is a defensible action in light of Church teaching. She touts her Catholic credentials (especially around election time), yet shows no desire to ever act on her Catholic convictions (presuming she has a clue what those are). If you need to read more, I've written scores of posts about her.

What does she want out of her meeting with Pope Benedict? Street credit. She wants the photo-op to wave in front of her conscientious Catholic questioners, to say "see, the pope doesn't have a problem with me - why do you?"And you know what? She'll probably get what she wants. Evil often does.

Deal Hudson makes two suggestions to salvage this:

• Benedict XVI should use the opportunity of the visit to make a strong public statement about the attack on unborn life being waged by the new Congress and the new administration.
• Pelosi's ordinary, Archbishop Niederhauer of San Francisco, should issue a public statement strongly critical of Pelosi as a Catholic politician. He should include a statement that if she presents herself for communion he will deny it to her.

The Anchoress says: "Truthfully, there is no down side to this meeting." But I have to disagree: clearly, while grace can make good things come of it, you can't get around the reality that for many Catholics who are unsure about these issues, they will take Pope Benedict's obligation to meet with a U.S. representative as a tacit support for her radical dissenting views on the protection due human life, etc. Again, if the pope doesn't think it's important (so they will falsely conclude), why should I? Even political writers are aware of what is at stake with this meeting.

Pewsitter.com has an online petition (~2,000 signatures, currently) asking for communion to be withheld from Pelosi which they explain here. Their goal is 1 million signatures. It's a bit of an 11th hour solution.

Let's pray for Pope Benedict today, and for Nancy Pelosi, and for the children in the balance.

update: full update on what happened today ... here.