From a Vatican statement today:

“Following the General Audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage.

“His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.”

In case Daily Blog readers are unaware of why Pope Benedict XVI was compelled to speak directly to Pelosi about her responsibility as a Catholic politician to defend unborn lives against legal abortion, go here to see yesterday’s post about Pelosi’s pro-abortion actions and her refusal to heed Church teachings on this matter.

In the last few months Pelosi has already been publicly corrected regarding her anti-Catholic position on abortion by her own bishop, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, and by the U.S. bishops collectively.

Now, an extraordinary public instruction about her responsibility to defend unborn human life has been delivered to her personally by the Pope himself.

Catholic Americans and other pro-life Americans can only hope and pray that Pelosi will finally be willing to open her ears to these appeals from the Church’s shepherds.

Update: Go here to read a report on Pewsitter.com about Pelosi’s recent meeting with Archbishop Niederauer regarding her position on abortion, and a subsequent comment by Pelosi’s spokesman, Brendan Daly, that she does not intend to correct her views on abortion despite the meeting.

“You won’t see that happening,” Daly said. “She is not changing her position on abortion.”