Re Kennedy's letter (though I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't write it himself, or at least without a great deal of input from Pelosi or someone else), it's interesting that they didn't release the whole thing, just excerpts. Probably just another attempt -- like Pelosi's failed stab at getting a good photo op with the Pope -- to get the Pope to say something (utterly ludicrous) like, "Oh, you liberals do so much good, surely God will overlook that you facilitated the murder of 40,000,000 human beings." So it didn't work again.
Sen. Kennedys letter to Pope said he fell short but tried to be a faithful Catholic