Pelosi whines about Catholics having “this conscience thing”

HotAir.com

November 21, 2011 by Tina Korbe

Maybe she’s just jealous they have something she doesn’t …

According to LifeNews.com, Nancy Pelosi is upset that the U.S. Catholic bishops wouldn’t approve if the Obama administration did, in fact, decide to force insurance companies to cover birth control, contraception and drugs that could cause abortions. The bishops say that, under such a decision, some religious groups might have to provide the insurance against their moral and religious views.

Given the Catholic Church’s ban on contraception, the bishops’ position shouldn’t come as a surprise to Ms. Pelosi — but she still manages to be baffled by the their concern for conscience protections for health insurers who might not want to have to cover birth control just to be able to provide other types of health insurance.

Similarly, she was skeptical earlier this year that Republicans would fight for conscience protections for health care providers out of any noble motive. Republicans must want women to “die on the floor,” she said, just because they don’t want to compel health care providers to assist with abortions.

She still thinks that — only more so, if that could possibly be.

“[Those who disagree] may not like the language,’’ she told The Washington Post, “but the truth is what I said. I’m a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they have this conscience thing [that puts women at risk.]”

Shame on us! How dare we have a conscience!

Another little anecdote Pelosi told WaPo suggests the former speaker is also put out whenever a Catholic gives the pope’s positions on life more credence than they do hers. Nancy Pelosi knows the personal experience of motherhood as the pope never could — but that doesn’t mean she can reject his authority and credibly call herself Catholic. It means more to be Catholic than to just attend a Catholic Church. The authority of the magisterium is arguably the linchpin on which all other Catholic apologetics hang — and Pelosi’s repeated disregard for it makes me cringe when I read a quote from her to the effect that she loves and honors her faith. I’m not saying she has to be Catholic — just saying she should be honest with herself (and us!) about whether she is.