Pelosi/Archbishop Niederauer UPDATE

Valerie Schmalz over at Our Sunday Visitor is doing some followup on the meeting between Archbishop Niederauer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

From yesterday's OSV article:

"A Pelosi press spokesman said Feb. 13 that she did not know when or if Pelosi would meet with the archbishop or when Pelosi would respond to Our Sunday Visitor’s inquiry."

From Ms. Schmalz's OSV article of today:

"Brendan Daly, press spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the pro-abortion-rights 'ardent' Catholic, has confirmed to OSV this afternoon that she met privately with San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer Feb. 8.

'It went well,' Daly said. 'They both thought it was productive and agreed they would meet in the future at some point.'

Ms. Schmalz asks:

"Why are we hearing of this meeting only ten days later?"

Response:

“It was a private meeting. They didn’t feel the need to publicize it and we didn’t feel the need to publicize it," Daly said.

Why, then, is it being publicized now? What has changed? Has anything happened to Nancy Pelosi in the last 24 hours that made her need for privacy less urgent?

I gave my take here. Excerpt:

"If it (the meeting) were publicly known, then the questions among faithful Catholics immediately arise: Well, do you now accept settled Church teaching? Do you plan on remaining a Catholic? If not, why do you want to meet with the Holy Father?"

Mrs Schmalz closes with:

"It was so private that the archbishop's own press spokesman, Maurice Healy, seemed unaware of it. He told OSV on Friday that no meeting had taken place, despite the archbishop making himself readily available.

In light of today's revelation, OSV has recontacted Healy and is still awaiting his response. Stay tuned."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney