Pope Benedict Speaks to Speaker Pelosi

From Whispers:

For Madame Speaker, a Talking-To

Just dropped from the Holy See: a Press Office statement on the Pope's post-audience bacimano earlier today with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.With the meeting become a flashpoint in media, political and church circles alike (and both left and right at that), the following was released by the Vatican in Italian and English:

Following the General Audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage.His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.

According to the Italian wires, the encounter between the pontiff and the California Democrat extended for some fifteen minutes.A lifelong product of church schools who's described herself an "ardent Catholic," the Speaker's solidly pro-choice record has landed her in the crosshairs before, most notably after Pelosi sought to defend her position in an August interview on Meet the Press.