The pope is one of the most influential people in the world.He is the unquestioned head of one of the largest and oldest institutions on the planet, and to millions of Catholics, he is a living conduit to God.Generally, the pontiff uses his widespread influence to promote a Catholic social agenda, most commonly concerning the ever-raging abortion debate.  By speaking to his flock, he indirectly raises support for — or against — political policy.But sometimes His Holiness takes a more direct approach.Recently, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi met with the Holy Father in a very private meeting at the Vatican. The conference between the two was uncharacteristically sparse — the Vatican usually makes a show of visits by high-profile politicians and invites photographers and reporters to attend.In this case, the two met for a mere 15 minutes, in a session closed to the media.The reason for the pope’s understated, low-profile approach to Pelosi’s visit is no secret. Pelosi, a Catholic, is also an unabashed abortion rights advocate.During the meeting, the Bishop of Rome — who has repeatedly called for Catholics, especially those with political power to “create a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of development” — reminded Pelosi of the church’s belief in “the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.”In short, the pope called Pelosi out for supporting a system that he believes — and he believes that she should believe — is murderous.The pope’s cold reception of Pelosi is not novel. Some of his predecessors and Catholic leaders have historically criticized Catholic public figures for their support of abortion rights. Sometimes, these leaders call for such politicians to be excommunicated or denied communion.During his presidential bid, Sen. John Kerry faced heavy criticism from American bishops, who debated routinely to deny him communion.In one case, devout Catholic businessman Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Republican who worked for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, was denied communion after he publicly supported Barack Obama for president — despite his personal opposition to abortion rights.The fatal flaw the pope and the bishops make when they pass such judgments on politicians is rooted in a misconception held by many anti-abortion rights advocates — especially of the religious variety. It is rooted in a failure to separate support of abortion rights from personal preference.A person can be against abortion but a supporter of abortion rights. In all of the cases mentioned previously, and for most Catholics who support abortion rights, the politicians were personally against abortion — they merely support the right of a woman to choose and support efforts to reduce or eliminate the number of abortions through non-legislative means.It would be one thing if the Vatican were attempting to “correct” a Catholic politician’s stance on abortion if that stance had no qualms about the act of abortion itself. Catholic doctrine states that life begins at conception, and thus abortion is murder. This belief is perfectly valid and, most importantly, does not in any way affect non-Catholics – merely those that profess that particular faith.However, by failing to remove personal beliefs from the equation, and instead focusing on a politician’s stance on legislation to outlaw or limit abortions, the church is beginning to interfere in issues that affect non-Catholics as well as Catholics.The church has no business dictating whether a politician who believes abortion should be halted by legislative means. It is absolutely legitimate for a person in power to believe that, although they may personally have qualms about abortion, using their power to curb its practice would be enforcing their views on an entire nation.And that is a belief nobody — even the Pope — should try to dissuade.Matthew Albright is a 20-year-old political science sophomore.–Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]