Vatican warns US bishops not to deny Communion to Biden, other pro-abortion politicians, ahead of major conference
The Vatican has publicly rebuked conservative American bishops over their efforts to deny Communion to President Joe Biden and other prominent supporters of abortion ahead of a major conference this week where the issue is set to be debated.
What are the details?
In a sermon this month, Pope Francis preached that Communion "is not the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners." And in May, his top doctrinal official, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, penned a stern letter to American bishops, warning them to tread carefully about the subject.
In the letter, Ladaria complicated the bishops' plans by questioning their identification of abortion as "the preeminent" moral issue and pushing for an impossible unanimous vote on the matter. Anything less, he cautioned, could make the administration of church's holiest sacrament "a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States."
Though the letter may sound light and genial to untrained ears, those familiar with the matter assert that the message lays bare an unusual sense of tension.
New York Times Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz called the Vatican's warning a "remarkably public stop sign from Rome" and evidence of "a rare, open rift between Rome and the American church."
"The concern in the Vatican," according to Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit priest and close ally of Francis, "is not to use access to the Eucharist as a political weapon."
What else?
It remains to be seen whether the Vatican's exhortation will have any bearing on the communion issue when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convene for a national meeting on Wednesday.
Certainly a significant number of bishops have become concerned by the open support for abortion among many prominent members of the church, and are determined to resolve the issue by forcing a vote at the meeting to draft a teaching document.
Among those leading the effort is Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the USCCB. In January, Gomez issued a strong denunciation of Biden over his stance on abortion, marriage, and gender.
"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," Gomez said in a statement. "Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences."
Alongside Gomez is San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the bishop presiding over Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), another prominent Catholic who supports abortion.
In the pastoral letter issued in May, Cordileone slammed prominent pro-abortion Catholics over their promotion of an act that the church holds as one of the gravest sins.
Prominent figures who advocate for abortion "lead others to do evil," he said, adding that "anyone who actively works to promote abortion shares some of the guilt for the abortions performed."
Anything else?
Adding intrigue to the matter, the Vatican is reported to have nixed a meeting between Biden and the pope this week over concerns about the administration of Communion.
According to the Catholic News Agency, "The President's entourage had originally requested for Biden to attend Mass with the pope early in the morning, but the proposal was nixed by the Vatican after considering the impact that Biden receiving Holy Communion from the pope would have on the discussions the USCCB is planning to have during their meeting starting Wednesday, June 16."
Biden skips Notre Dame commencement after backlash to his abortion policies as thousands sign petition
President Joe Biden is skipping the University of Notre Dame's 2021 commencement on Sunday. Biden, the second Roman Catholic president, was invited but said he couldn't attend due to a scheduling conflict, according to the Catholic News Agency. Had Biden attended the ceremony, he would have received an honorary degree from the school. Instead, finance executive and trustee of the university Jimmy Dunne will address the graduates.
The president forgoing the ceremony at the prestigious institution breaks a 20-year tradition of either the president or the vice president attending the Notre Dame commencement in their first year in office. President George W. Bush gave the commencement address in 2001, President Barack Obama delivered the address in 2009, and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the ceremony in 2017, according to Fox News. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump did not address Notre Dame's commencement. It was not clear if Notre Dame invited Vice President Kamala Harris.
Despite being invited, Biden would not have been welcomed by everyone at Notre Dame. There were over 4,300 "members of the Notre Dame community" who signed a petition to urge Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins not to invite Biden to the commencement because of the president's pro-abortion policies.
The petition said the students and alumni of Notre Dame are "dismayed by the pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty agenda of President Joe Biden."
The petition reads, "Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."
"He rejects Church teachings on abortion, marriage, sex and gender and is hostile to religious liberty," the petition says of the president. "He embraces the most pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty public policy program in history."
The petition lists Biden's actions that "threaten grievous harm to the Church, Notre Dame, Catholics and other persons of faith, and the unborn," including funding of Planned Parenthood and the "Equality Act."
In January, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced Biden over his stance on abortion, marriage, and gender.
"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," José Horacio Gomez said of Biden. "Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences."
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Why single women don't vote Republican (and probably never will)
While many Republicans blame Donald Trump for the lack of female support in their party, women’s blue voting patterns began far before his reign.
And Steve Deace has the receipts.
As early as 2004, John Kerry polled at 18+ points more with unmarried women than George Bush, who polled at 10+ points more with married women.
The trend continued with each election up until 2020, with the only exception being Hillary Clinton polling at 2+ points more than Trump with married women and 29+ points more with unmarried women.
“This is the spiritual condition of unmarried women because this is driven all by one particular issue: unmarried women just want to be able to kill their children whenever they want,” Deace explains, adding, “It’s not any more complicated than that.”
And he’s not hopeful it will change.
“There’s really not even much we can do to bridge this gap, frankly. Because what’s the number one most loyal issue voting base in the Republican Party?” Deace asks, “the pro-life base.”
“The more married you are, the more you tend to vote Republican, and the less married you are, the more you tend to vote Democratic,” he continues.
“It’s really the number one dividing line of voting patterns in America.”
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