Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Catholic leaders continue to feud with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the subject of abortion and the Church’s teachings on the beginning of human life. The debate began when Pelosi said in an interview that the Church’s teachings have been in consistent on the subjects.

Pelosi claimed the Catholic Church only recently came to the conclusion that human life begins at conception.

In the interview with Tom Brokaw on the NBC program "Meet the Press," Pelosi admitted she didn't know the answer to the question.

After several bishops corrected and rebuked Pelosi on her comments and misrepresenting Church teaching on abortion, she persisted in citing a text by St. Augustine as reason to doubt the Church’s authoritative teaching.

As a further response to Pelosi, the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities released a two page fact sheet showing the Church teaching through the years.

“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law,” it said.

“From earliest times, Christians sharply distinguished themselves from surrounding pagan cultures by rejecting abortion and infanticide,” it added.

Regarding the origins of human life, the Catholic bishops affirmed that “knowledge of human embryology was very limited until recent times.”

They said Catholic teaching never changed on the morality of abortion even though scientists didn’t confirm that human life begins at conception until 1827.

“Scientists increasingly understood that the union of sperm and egg at conception produces a new living being that is distinct from both mother and father. Modern genetics demonstrated that this individual is, at the outset, distinctively human, with the inherent and active potential to mature into a human fetus, infant, child and adult,” the bishops said.

“Thus modern science has not changed the Church’s constant teaching against abortion, but has underscored how important and reasonable it is, by confirming that the life of each individual of the human species begins with the earliest embryo,” the bishops concluded.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue weighed in on the debate and said the Catholic bishops are right on target with their analysis and explanation.

“Nancy Pelosi continues to give currency to the idea that the Church’s teaching on abortion has evolved over time, and that in any case there is more than one legitimate Catholic position on this subject,” he told LifeNews.com. “She is twice wrong.”

“Nineteen Catholic members of the House have publicly asked Pelosi to ‘correct the public record’ on this issue. Her steadfast refusal to do so is keeping this matter alive,” he said.

“One wonders what it will take to get her to retract her comments before more damage is done to the Catholic Church, to her and to the Democratic Party,” he concluded.

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