U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the first American official to visit the Vatican since Barack Obama was elected president. It was her second time meeting with Benedict. The first was back in April during the Pope’s trip to Washington.

No cameras where allowed to film the event but the Vatican released a statement on the brief meeting where the Pope took the opportunity to speak about the “Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.”

Pelosi, who is Catholic and pro-choice, has been criticized for saying that the Church hasn’t defined when life begins.

During her visit to Rome, Speaker Pelosi held a conference on ways to tackle climate change and how a large sum of the $787 billion stimulus plan will go to science.

 

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives 
Up until now in Washington it was faith or science take your choice. We say science is an answer to our prayers.
      

According to the statement released by the Vatican, the Pope told Pelosi that creating a just system of laws for protecting human life at all of its stages was especially important for “legislators, jurists and  those responsible for the common good of society.”

 Pelosi also released a statement on the private meeting where she 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.”

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