Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s dismissive response to a letter from a leading pro-life Catholic priest is making waves nationwide.
LifeNews reported on Father Frank Pavone’s letter to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Pavone made an appearance on Fox News last weekend to underscore his point. Pelosi laughed off the letter from the top pro-life priest who is asking her to revise her pro-abortion position to make it conform to the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church or to leave the Church.
She called Pavone arrogant, medieval, hysterical, and disconnected from the Catholic Church.
Now that Pelosi has responded to the letter, Pavone emailed LifeNews with his response. He said that, rather than answer the simple question as to what is the moral difference between killing a baby outside the womb or inside the womb, Pelosi has criticized him and his letter.
Pavone said: “I would like to know if Mrs. Pelosi, in her charges that we are arrogant, medieval, and hysterical, intends to include the more than 14,000 people (and counting) who signed onto my open letter to her in just the past few days. Rather than resorting to name-calling, she should answer the question all of us have raised. In refusing to answer this question, and instead choosing to criticize the messenger and then assert her own version of Catholicism, Mrs. Pelosi repeats the same display of avoidance and inconsistency as she exhibited at the June 13 press briefing that prompted my letter in the first place. Continuing to support dismemberment abortion, and refusing to explain its distinction from murder, she has disconnected herself from both faith and reason. Priests for Life will not allow this to go unchallenged.”
As for her assertion that she might pay attention to a more intellectual letter, Fr. Pavone responded: “The beginning of an intellectual approach to this discussion is to answer the simple question that started the discussion. Mrs. Pelosi refuses to take that first step.”
Fr. Pavone’s open letter, at LetterToNancy.com, continues to receive thousands of adherents each day from across the country.
In her interview with ThinkProgress earlier this week, Mrs. Pelosi said, “I grant the Church where they are on abortion. That’s where they are, that’s where they have to be. But my faith isn’t about what their position is.”
Fr. Pavone responded: “The beautiful thing about Catholic Faith is that it is not some kind of mysterious knowledge available only to elites or to the person holding it. Rather, it can be plainly understood by prince and pauper, young and old, educated and illiterate. We can all recognize when it is embraced and when it is rejected. Mrs. Pelosi has clearly rejected it, stating again that her faith is not what the Church teaches.
“We don’t need to consult the Catechism to know that terrorism is wrong – reason makes this plain,” added Fr. Pavone. “And yet, those who flew airplanes into our buildings were, all the while, professing their faith. You also don’t need to know theology or be a priest to conclude that tearing a baby apart limb by limb is wrong – reason likewise makes this clear. Yet, Nancy Pelosi has done it again – she’s trying to use faith talk to escape what both reason and Catholicism teach about abortion, and to escape answering the simple question, ‘What is the moral difference between killing a premature newborn and aborting a baby?'”
