Biden likes to talk a big Catholic game when he’s campaigning, but like most Democrats, the moment power is achieved is the moment that Catholicism gets tossed out of the window. As a result, American bishops are going to have a meeting to discuss whether or not he should be denied Holy Communion.
According to Fox News, the meeting between the bishops will take place virtually and talk about, not only Biden but any politician who embraces any stances that run contrary to Catholicism’s teachings:
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will hold their annual meeting, virtually, from Wednesday through Friday, during which they will decided whether or not to ask the Committee on Doctrine to draft a teaching document on the topic of Communion, Reuters reported.
Some leaders in the church believe that Biden should not be allowed to receive the sacrament, which is central to the Catholic faith. Other high-profile politicians could suffer a similar punishment over their political stances if the debate should go in favor of such a strict move.
One big issue that Biden has given the church is his stances and actions on abortion access. Biden’s Catholicism doesn’t seem to be playing a part in his decision-making when he decided to lift federal restrictions on human fetal tissue and allowing abortion clinics to receive federal grants.
“How can he say he’s a devout Catholic and he’s doing these things that are contrary to the church’s teaching?” asked Archbishop Joseph Naumann according to The Guardian.
Naumann chairs the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on pro-life activities, and commented that Biden’s stances and actions on abortion underline a “grave moral evil.”
Cardinal Raymond Burke said that politicians who “publicly and obstinately” support abortion are “apostates” who should be excommunicated, not just denied communion.
Biden’s defense of his actions is a very “have your cake and eat it to” excuse. He says that he’s a devout Catholic who believes life starts at conception but says that since others may not believe this that it’s not something he’s going to force on others.
“What I’m not prepared to do is impose a precise view that is borne out of my faith on other people,” he said in 2015.
Oddly, he doesn’t share this same midset about federal funding for abortions and is more than willing to use taxpayer dollars to help fund abortions whether taxpayers like it or not.
Other Catholic leaders have risen to Biden’s defense.
“The proposal to exclude Biden and all election officials who support legal abortion from communion is an effort on the part of conservative bishops to shore up their base of regular Mass-goers who are the lifeblood of the church,” said Andrew Chesnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. “But exclusionary ecclesial policies will only lead to greater defection from the pews, especially among Millennials and Generation Z.”
This is a backward take on how Christianity works. Christianity is immovable and maintains principles based on words handed down from God. It doesn’t conform to younger generations in order to get them interested.
According to The Hill, the Vatican has already warned these bishops not to deny Biden communion over abortion.
“The concern in the Vatican is not to use access to the Eucharist as a political weapon,” Antonio Spadaro, Jesuit priest, and ally of the pope told the New York Times.
An argument can be made that it’s not being used as a weapon, so much as making sure that the church not punishing this actual act against Catholic teachings isn’t seen as a tacit endorsement. The church could lead on the issue by seeing to it that when the question is asked how the church feels about abortion, the answer is clear and present.
However, it seems the church is currently more concerned about giving off a certain look in today’s political climate than anything else.
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