Nancy Pelosi, delivering an address on May 6 to the Catholic Community Conference, attempting to explain the intersection of her faith and politics:
The cognitive dissonance here is overwhelming: To speak so fervently about the Word made Flesh, and yet to remain completely immune to its implications when it comes to her position on abortion… you really wonder how it is possible to hold those two things in mind at once.
The Anchoress has a thoughtful response to all this, as usual:
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
Sign up to get Crisis articles delivered to your inbox daily
Mrs. Pelosi may seem confused to some; perhaps she is. I prefer to believe that her seeming inability to stop herself from conflating her religion and her politics is evidence that the Holy Spirit is working upon her–that perhaps her photo-op-free meeting with Pope Benedict, and with her bishop (or her public communion-taking) have flicked her conscience in such a way that we are now watching a woman try to reconcile her faith and her politics in a very public manner. . . .
I mean to pray for Mrs. Pelosi. I have no doubt that her identification as a Catholic is a sincere one, and I know firsthand how difficult it can be to form a conscience in the midst of sometimes pernicious influences. If she is being schooled and ravished by the Holy Spirit while also being pulled by all of her worldly attachments, then something will have to give, in God’s own time.
Whether Lizzie is right — whether one believes this is the sign of a “ravished” soul, or simply a mendacious bid for political cover — prayers for our Speaker would never go awry.
Â