Roman Catholic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has a habit of invoking Church teaching and Church fathers, whether elaborating on free will, on when life begins, or citing Augustine or Saint Joseph. She’s quite outspoken in her faith, rarely failing to make headlines.
Well, kudos to CNSNews.com for catching recent Pelosi remarks missed by major media outlets. Speaking at a May 6 Catholic Community Conference on Capitol Hill, the speaker stated: “They ask me all the time, ‘What is your favorite this? What is your favorite that?’ And one time, ‘What is your favorite word?’ And I said, ‘My favorite word? That is really easy.’ My favorite word is the Word…. And you know the biblical reference—you know the Gospel reference of the Word. And that Word [gives] voice to … public policy … in keeping with the values of the Word.”
Pelosi continued: “[O]f course, we know it means: ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ And that’s the great mystery of our faith.”
Indeed, it is. Pelosi, of course, is making reference to the mystery of the Incarnation.
And it’s that passage that refers to the Word becoming flesh in the form of Christ. It was at that utterly vital moment in history that Mary demonstrated what Fulton Sheen called the greatest vindication of the character of freedom. She said, Yes.
In so doing, Mary acquiesced to the ultimate crisis pregnancy, inviting not only public shame but public stoning. It’s the quintessential pro-life message.
Yet, does Speaker Pelosi, longtime unflagging advocate of the “pro-choice” side, read that passage that way? Do those words give voice to her public-policy values and choices? No, they don’t. And that’s a shame—a fatal disconnect from the Word.
