Papal diplomacy resurrected

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Wednesday morning.

No journalists or other impartial observers were present.

Perhaps they were on parallel, nonintersecting timelines.

After the 15-minute audience the Vatican reported:

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.”

Speaker Pelosi's office reported:

It is with great joy that my husband, Paul, and I met with his Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI today. In our conversation, I had the opportunity to praise the Church's leadership in fighting poverty, hunger and global warming, as well as the Holy Father's dedication to religious freedom and his upcoming trip and message to Israel. I was proud to show his Holiness a photograph of my family's papal visit in the 1950s, as well as a recent picture of our children and grandchildren.

In neither account did the pontiff remind Speaker Polisi, who supports abortion rights, that he has said that those who don't oppose abortion shouldn't take communion.

Or perhaps His Holiness is feeling more diplomatic of late, after jarring collisions over un-excommunications and an Austrian now-withdrawn appointment. That may displease our acquaintances on the Catholic right. And forecast calmer seas for Catholicism at large.

Non?