House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband left Mass at a church in Rome Saturday evening due to a “security incident,” the church’s rector said.
“You probably heard or saw the commotion. Unfortunately, I guess, there was a security incident and sadly Speaker Pelosi and her husband had to leave,” Fr. Steven Petroff, rector of St. Patrick’s Church in Rome, said in a video posted on social media.
Paul and Nancy Pelosi during their meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2021./ Vatican Media. Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 10, 2021 / 09:19 am
“She was going to do our second reading today, but of course her safety is most important,” he said.
Veteran Rome journalist Joan Lewis told CNA Sunday that she had spoken to Petroff, who told her that the security concerns stemmed from restive demonstrations going on in the streets of Rome Saturday that were moving into the area where St. Patrick’s is located around the time of the 6 p.m. Mass.
“What Fr. Steve learned after Mass was that a large number of the anti-Green Card protestors were moving in the direction of Via Veneto and they appeared to be violent,” Lewis said in an instant message exchange with CNA. Lewis emphasized that Pelosi wasn’t the target of heckling, as some news reports suggested. You can watch Petroff addressing the incident during his homily in the Twitter post below.
Pro abortion American politician Nancy Pelosi ‘had to leave’ Mass in Rome today because of a ‘commotion’ and was unable to deliver a scheduled reading as a result. pic.twitter.com/0WYhRW08nw— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) October 9, 2021
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