US Catholic bishops to vote on banning Biden from communion over his pro-choice views
18 November 2021
President Joe Biden talks on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, Thursday, August 19, 2021, in the Oval Office of the White House.
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and, according to Catholics, God's infallible representative on earth, last month called President Joe Biden a "good Catholic" and warned he should not be banned from receiving Holy Communion.
The organization representing all American Catholic Bishops, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), will vote Wednesday on a document that would effectively act to ban President Biden from receiving Holy Communion, one of the most important sacraments to Catholics worldwide.
"In a leaked draft of the document before the conference, the bishops write 'there are some sins, however that do rupture the communion we share with God and the Church,'" ABC News reports.
"As the Church has consistently taught, a person who receives Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin not only does not receive the grace of the sacrament, he or she commits the sin of sacrilege by failing to show the reverence due to the Body and Blood of Christ," the document said.
Only the second Catholic ever elected President, Biden is possibly the most faithful and religious man the White House has seen in modern times, as ABC News notes:
Biden, "who has said his 'personal' views were a 'private matter,' has openly professed his faith throughout his political career — diligently attending Sunday Mass, infusing speeches with scripture and wearing his late son Beau Biden's rosary beads."
Biden personally opposes abortion, but strongly believes in a woman's right to choose, and in protecting that right. The majority of U.S. Catholics say Biden should not be denied Holy Communion.
In June 60 House Democrats signed a statement opposing "the weaponization of the Eucharist to Democratic lawmakers for their support of abortion."
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has not shied away from cultural issues like same-sex marriage, but their unprecedented attacks against President Biden literally began on Inauguration Day.
In a Jan. 20 letter "congratulating" Biden on becoming the nation's 46th president, Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the USCCB, wrote: "I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences."
That was the warning shot across the bow.