Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had a meeting on Wednesday with Pope Benedict XVI. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall or a mouse in the corner, but we’ve got this…

The Vatican issued a statement about the meeting between the Pope and Speaker Pelosi. You may recall that she had a rather odd idea of the Church’s teaching regarding abortion. I wrote about it here. She tripped over her words but insisted that the Church has been debating this for years and that she’s an expert in the topic. More recently, she proposed contraception as a solution to economic woes. Presumably, she considers children a drain on the economy, at least until they make enough to pay taxes.

I have to admit that I spent some time joking with friends about how this meeting might go. When I suggested that the Pope give her a copy of the Catechism, a friend added that it should have the more important parts hi-lighted. National Review Online has this spoof which is in the same vein, only much more developed.

Everyone makes mistakes, but something as public as the Speaker’s statements on abortion, contraception, and her own understanding of Catholicism demands correction in the same public level. It would be one thing if she were to say that she disagrees with the Church’s teaching, but what she claims is the teaching of the Church is absolutely wrong. Imagine her reaction if one of her Democratic colleagues started to go against the party platform or even the stimulus bill.

For more on the Speaker’s visit with the Pope, John Allen has this analysis and there are many news reports like this one.

Meanwhile, North Dakota passed legislation defining the fertilized egg as having all the rights of a person. This is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade in which the court based its decision on the findings, or lack thereof, namely that the court did not know when life begins.