Catholics rap Pelosi's abortion remarks

Dispute over church's definition of life
Julia Duin
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Several of the nation's top Catholic bishops, including the archbishops of Washington and New York, piled criticism Tuesday on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about her televised remarks Sunday on abortion and the Catholic Church.

The crux of the dispute: the meditations of a fourth-century saint on whether abortion always constitutes homicide.

Mrs. Pelosi's contention that it does not brought down the wrath of the 433-member U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on her head. On Tuesday morning, they chided the California Democrat on Tuesday morning for "misrepresenting" the Catholic Church's views on abortion when she told NBC's "Meet the Press" two days earlier that "over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition" of when life begins. the rest