During her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill earlier today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had the following exchange with an unidentified reporter:

Q: “Is an unborn baby with a human heart and a human liver a human being?”

Pelosi: “Why don’t you take your ideological questions…I don’t…”

Q: “If it’s not a human being, what species is it?”

Pelosi: “Listen, I’m going to say something to you. I don’t know who you are and you are welcome to be here in freedom of this press. I am a devout, practicing Catholic. I’m a mother of five children. When my baby was born, my fifth child, my oldest was six. I think I know more about this subject than you, with all due respect.

Source: Washington Post

Ofcourse this isn’t the first time that Ms. Pelosi has attempted to defend her untenable and unconscionable positions by invoking her Catholic faith.

Most interesting, however, is that this comes just days after the Holy Father’s inflight press conference following his visit to the U.S. In response to a question about Ignazio Marino, the leftist mayor of Rome who supports euthanasia and gay marriage, and who showed up uninvited to the World Meeting of Families, Pope Francis is reported by Agence France-Presse to have said:

“He pretends to be Catholic, it came on him all of a sudden…It doesn’t happen like that.”

“I didn’t invite the mayor. Is that clear?”

While the Vatican does not always weigh in on local politicians, it is important to remember that the Pope is also the Bishop of Rome.

Just last week during his papal visit, Francis had urged American bishops to avoid “harsh and divisive” language, saying it does not befit the tongue of a pastor. With his strong rebuke of Mayor Marino of Rome, however, the Holy Father has shown that public figures, particularly those entrusted with authority, can be held to a higher standard.

Unfortunately, we should not expect the same treatment for Ms. Pelosi and other congressional Catholics who for years have persisted in their public support for abortion. One could only hope that Cardinal Wuerl, like Pope Francis, would ask these “pro-choice” politicians in Washington to stop pretending to be Catholic.