Pope Francis on Saturday met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a private audience at the Vatican, amid ongoing criticism of Pelosi by conservative Catholics in the United States for her support of abortion rights.

       Pelosi, who is Catholic, described the meeting as “a spiritual, personal and official honor” and praised the pope for his attention to climate change and for his work lifting up the underprivileged.

       “His Holiness’s leadership is a source of joy and hope for Catholics and for all people, challenging each of us to be good stewards of God’s creation, to act on climate, to embrace the refugee, the immigrant and the poor, and to recognize the dignity and divinity in everyone,” Pelosi said in a statement.

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       “His Holiness commands our attention to honor the Gospel of Matthew by serving ‘the least of these,’ lifting up those who have been left out or left behind, especially in the time of COVID,” she added.

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       Pelosi’s meeting with the pope comes a few months after Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco said in May that prominent Catholics who support abortion rights should be denied Holy Communion. The archbishop also denounced abortion as “nothing short of child sacrifice” and has since launched a “Rose and Rosary for Nancy” campaign to push for Pelosi to change her stance on abortion.

       President Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, has also been embroiled in a debate within the Catholic Church about whether he should be able to receive Communion because of his support of abortion rights. Last month Francis briefly waded into the debate, saying that abortion is “murder” but also that the decision to grant Communion should be a pastoral, not political, one.

       “God’s style is closeness, compassion and tenderness,” Francis said then.

       Biden is expected to meet with Pope Francis for the first time later this month.

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