In that statement he also invited Pelosi to a personal meeting with him to discuss the correct Church teaching on human life.
According to the Examiner, Pelosi said in a letter on Friday that she would "welcome the opportunity for our personal conversation and to go beyond our earlier most cordial exchange about immigration and needs of the poor to Church teaching on other significant matters."
The letter said she would be willing to discuss "church teaching on other significant matters," but did not specifically address the topic of abortion.
Pelosi's comments on Meet the Press caused a backlash from Catholics around the world as she blatantly ignored fundamental Church teachings, spelled out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), that affirm the intrinsic evil of abortion at all stages and define conception as the moment from which human life must be "respected and protected."
Paragraph 2270-2271 of the CCC states: "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable."
Some Catholic commentators have expressed their hope that in his meeting with Pelosi Archbishop Niederauer will stand firm on the Church's teaching on the issue, in particular Canon Law 915, which pertains to the denial of communion to pro-abortion politicians. Canon 915 would apply to Pelosi should she continue to persist in her opposition to Church teaching on abortion after her meeting with Niederauer.
In his statement Archbishop Niederauer brought up the question of reception of Communion, but demurred from making a definitive statement on the issue as it pertains to pro-abortion politicians.
Instead he referred Catholics to two statements from the USCCB, "Catholics in Political Life," "Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper."
"Both statements," said the Archbishop, "lead the reader to conclude that this is a sensitive and complicated question, and does not lend itself to sound bites, headlines or slogans."
Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented on the Archbishop's rebuke of Pelosi and the question of reception of Communion: "Four years ago, another Catholic dissident on this subject, New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, did the right thing by announcing that he would abide by the Church's strictures and no longer present himself for Communion. That is exactly what Pelosi should have done. Instead, she chose to defy the teachings of the Catholic Church, misrepresent them in public and continue to insist that she is right. Thus has she beckoned her bishop to act. The ball is in her court. Practicing Catholics, of course, strongly support Archbishop Niederauer."
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(Source: LSN)