In support of my speculation that the term “jurists” in the Holy See Press Office’s statement about Pope Benedict XVI’s recent meeting with Nancy Pelosi does not mean “judges” — and of my argument that law professor Douglas Kmiec’s entire essay on the statement is (for that and other reasons) misplaced — a reader calls to my attention the Pope’s December 2006 speech to participants in a meeting organized by the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists. According to my reader, the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists is the equivalent of an Italian bar association (here is its Italian-language home page).

The Pope addresses this collection of Italian lawyers as “Dear jurists” (see sixth paragraph from the end).