Biden Says Pope Told Him He Was Happy Biden Was a ‘Good Catholic’ and He ‘Should Keep Receiving Communion’
By CNSNews.com Staff | October 29, 2021 | 3:50pm EDT
President Joe Biden, as reported by the New York Times, told reporters after his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican today that the pope had told him he was happy Biden was a “good Catholic” and said that he “should keep receiving communion.”
“President Biden said the issue of abortion had not come up during their meeting,” the Times reported.
“No, it didn’t,” Biden said. “It came up—we just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion.”
The Times also reported that the Vatican would not comment when asked to confirm Biden’s remarks. Said the Times: “Asked to confirm Mr. Biden’s remarks, Matteo Bruni, the Vatican spokesman, said that the Holy See limited its comments to the news release about subjects discussed during the meeting and added, ‘It’s a private conversation.'”
Here is an excerpt from the Times’s story about Biden’s remarks:
“President Biden said the issue of abortion had not come up during their meeting. ‘No, it didn’t,’ he said. ‘It came up — we just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion.’
“President Biden told reporters on Friday that Pope Francis had called him a ‘good Catholic’ and said he should keep receiving communion, an unexpected development that appeared to put a papal finger on the scale in a debate raging in the United States’ Roman Catholic Church over whether the president and other Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should be denied the sacrament.
“Asked by reporters if Francis had told him during their private 75-minute audience whether he should keep receiving communion, Mr. Biden replied, ‘Yes.’
“Mr. Biden said the issue of abortion had not come up during their meeting. ‘No, it didn’t,’ he said. ‘It came up — we just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion.’
Briefing Readout: No Mention of Abortion in Joe Biden’s Meeting with Pope Francis
ROME — The Vatican briefed reporters Friday that Pope Francis and President Joe Biden discussed topics such as climate change and immigration in their morning meeting but made no mention of the abortion issue.
In its press briefing, the Vatican states that the pope and the president “focused on the joint commitment to the protection and care of the planet, the healthcare situation and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the theme of refugees and assistance to migrants.”
“Reference was also made to the protection of human rights, including freedom of religion and conscience,” the communiqué concludes.
The fact that the briefing makes no mention of abortion does not mean that the topic never came up but suggests that either it was not discussed or the Vatican opted not to emphasize the point.
Because of his aggressive promotion of abortion rights, President Biden has found himself at odds with the U.S. Catholic bishops, who have not hesitated to criticize him for this blatant departure from core Church teaching on respect for human life.
Last February, the head of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann, said that Mr. Biden should stop calling himself a “devout Catholic” since his actions contradict this claim.
U.S. President Joe Biden, left, exchanges gifts with Pope Francis as they meet at the Vatican, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. (Vatican Media via AP)
Pope Francis leaves following a private audience with U.S. President Joe Biden in The Vatican on October 29, 2021, ahead of an upcoming G20 summit of world leaders. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty)
“The president should stop defining himself as a devout Catholic and acknowledge that his view on abortion is contrary to Catholic moral teaching,” Archbishop Naumann said. “It would be a more honest approach from him to say he disagreed with his Church on this important issue and that he was acting contrary to Church teaching.”
“When he says he is a devout Catholic, we bishops have the responsibility to correct him,” the archbishop continued. “Although people have given this president power and authority, he cannot define what it is to be a Catholic and what Catholic moral teaching is.”
Biden is “usurping the role of the bishops and confusing people,” Naumann said. “He’s declaring that he’s Catholic and is going to force people to support abortion through their tax dollars.”
“The bishops need to correct him, as the president is acting contrary to the Catholic faith,” he added.
The archbishop also said the president “has the responsibility not to present himself for Holy Communion,” the archbishop said.
“When Catholics receive the Eucharist, they are acknowledging the Real Presence of Jesus and also belief in the teachings of the Church,” he added.
What Biden is supporting “is a serious evil,” the archbishop said. “I don’t know the disposition of his mind and heart but his act of supporting legal abortion is wrong.”
People watch from St. Peter’s square in The Vatican as U.S. President Joe Biden leaves on October 29, 2021, following Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty)
Several weeks earlier, Archbishop Naumann condemned President Biden’s reinstatement of taxpayer-funded abortions around the world, calling his act “grievous.”
“It is grievous that one of President Biden’s first official acts actively promotes the destruction of human lives in developing nations,” declared Naumann in a joint statement with Bishop David Malloy, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace.
“This Executive Order is antithetical to reason, violates human dignity, and is incompatible with Catholic teaching. We and our brother bishops strongly oppose this action,” the bishops stated.
The overturned Mexico City policy had “ensured U.S. taxpayer dollars only went to organizations that agreed to provide health services in a way that respected the dignity of all persons,” the bishops observed.
“We urge the President to use his office for good, prioritizing the most vulnerable, including unborn children,” they added.
The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is an abominable crime and a sin so grave that the harshest punishment the Church imposes — automatic excommunication — is attached to it.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”
Members of the media stand by on Sr. Peter’s Square in The Vatican within the arrival of the motorcade of US President Joe Biden on October 29, 2021, for Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis. (VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images)
Abortion “is gravely contrary to the moral law,” the Catechism declares, and, therefore, a person who procures an abortion incurs excommunication from the Church “by the very commission of the offense.”
The Church also teaches that Catholic politicians have a “grave and clear obligation to oppose” any law that promotes abortion.
Joe Biden is only the second Roman Catholic to serve as U.S. president. John F. Kennedy was the first.
Vatican Cancels Live Broadcast of Biden Greeting Pope
ROME (AP) — The Vatican on Thursday abruptly canceled the planned live broadcast of U.S. President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis, the latest restriction to media coverage of the Holy See.
The Vatican press office provided no explanation for why the live broadcast of Biden’s visit had been trimmed to cover just the arrival of the president’s motorcade in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, where a Vatican monsignor will greet him.
Cancelled was any live coverage of Biden actually greeting Francis in the palace Throne Room, as well as the live footage of the two men sitting down to begin their private talks in Francis’ library, at which time the cameras normally would have stopped running.
The Vatican said it would provide edited footage of the encounter after the fact to accredited media.
Biden, the second Catholic U.S. president, has met Francis three previous times, but this will be his first as president.
The audience was being closely monitored since U.S. bishops are due to meet in a few weeks for their annual fall convention, with one of the agenda items inspired by conservatives who contend that Biden’s support for abortion rights should disqualify him from receiving Communion.
Though any document that emerges from the bishops’ conference is not expected to mention Biden by name, it’s possible there could be a clear message of rebuke.
Francis has strongly upheld the church’s opposition to abortion, calling it “murder.” But he has said bishops should be pastors, not politicians.
The Vatican has provided live television coverage for the visits of major heads of state for years and had scheduled such coverage Friday for Biden and before him, for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is also in Rome for a Group of 20 meeting this weekend.
Live broadcasts are particularly important because the Vatican hasn’t allowed independent photographers and journalists into papal audiences since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vatican has continued to cite the pandemic as a reason to deny external media access to the beginnings and ends of papal audiences with visiting leaders, even though they are allowed into other papal events.
It is during those moments in the pope’s library that reporters can view the gifts that are exchanged, watch as the formal photograph is taken and overhear remarks as the leaders arrive and depart to get a sense of how the pope and his guest have gotten along. Only the pope’s official photographer and Vatican video journalists are now allowed in.
The Vatican correspondents’ association has protested the cancellation of such pool access and several media outlets, including The Associated Press, formally complained about Thursday’s cut of the live Biden-pope broadcast and asked for an explanation.
The White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, was asked about the limited media access to Biden’s audience and said the administration was “working through every lever we have” to get more access.
Biden is travelling with his own pool of reporters who would normally be allowed into the pope’s library for the beginning and end of the audience.
“We believe in the value of the free press. We believe in the value of ensuring you have access to the president’s trips and his visits overseas,” Psaki said during a White House briefing.
Noting that Biden was a guest and the Vatican the host, she added: “I can’t offer you a guarantee, but I can guarantee you we will continue to advocate.”
DO YOU GET SICK OF THEIR HYPOCRISY?
Psaki: Biden ‘Has a Very Personal Relationship With Pope Francis’
(CNSNews.com) - White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at her press briefing on Wednesday afternoon that President Joe Biden “has a very personal relationship with Pope Francis.
Earlier in the same briefing, when asked whether President Biden agreed with Pope Francis that abortion is murder, Psaki had responded that Biden “believes in a woman’s right to choose.”
At the briefing a reporter asked Psaki: “You talked about the issues the president will talk about with the pope. Can you talk a little more personally about the president’s approach? Does he have any sense of the history of being only the second Catholic president meeting the pope or have we reached the point where that’s just another routine meeting?”
“Well, I think the president’s faith, as you all know, is quite personal to him,” Psaki responded.
“His faith has been a source of strength through various tragedies that he has lived through in his life,” she said.
“Many of you who have served on pool duty know that he attends church every weekend and certainly I expect he will continue to do that,” she said.
“So, the fact that this is, will be his fourth meeting, he has a very personal relationship with Pope Francis,” Psaki said.
“We certainly expect it to be a warm meeting and I would say, yes, George, it absolutely has personal significance to him in addition to being an opportunity to discuss the range of issues--poverty, combating the climate crisis, ending the COVID-19 pandemic--where there is alignment and the ability to have deep substantive discussions.”
Get Ready for the White House to Milk the Pope Visit
By Bill Donohue | October 27, 2021 | 4:54pm EDT
President Biden is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis in Rome on Friday. For the pope, it will be routine: he meets with heads of state all the time, and he has no compelling reason to meet with Biden. The reverse is not true: Biden is in trouble with U.S. bishops and needs to milk this event for all it's worth.
When Biden, who identifies as a Catholic, was elected, his stark departures from serious Catholic moral teachings gave many of the bishops pause.
Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), expressed concerns about the signals that the president would be sending to Catholics. To be specific, if Biden were adamant in his public rejection of Catholic moral teachings and is perceived to be in good standing with the Church, how would this play with Catholics in the pews?
The White House knows that the president will be on the minds of the bishops when the USCCB meets in a few weeks in Baltimore. It is in their interest, then, to put a happy face on the meeting with the pope. The optics are critical: pictures of the two men smiling and shaking hands will be posted everywhere.
To what end? It's a defensive strategy. This will enable the Biden team to argue that although some of his policies depart from, or undercut, Church teachings, they are of no real consequence.
Biden is not only pro-abortion, he has become increasingly more rabid in his support for abortion rights the older he gets. For most of his career in politics, which spans a half-century, he at least put the brakes on his support for publicly funded abortions. No more—the brakes are shot.
Biden not only supports gay marriage, he officiated at one. And as president, he has shown his contempt for the Church's teaching on gender ideology, even going so far as to promote to admiral a man who falsely claims to be a woman. Worse, the president refuses to label sex transition surgery on minors as child abuse.
When it comes to religious liberty, Biden has taken several steps to undermine it, the most egregious example being his support for the Equality Act. If it were to become law, the federal government could arguably order Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.
So what are Biden and Pope Francis expected to discuss when they meet? COVID, climate change, and poverty. It doesn't get much safer than that. These are three subjects that are easier to oppose than resolve. In short, the White House has seen to it that the issues which divide the pope and the president—marriage, the family, sexuality, religious liberty—will not be on the agenda.
The White House hopes that the staged image of Biden and Pope Francis together will weaken, if not neuter, criticisms by the bishops of the president. They certainly don't expect the president to fall in line with the teachings of his religion. That would cost him the goodwill of his secular base of supporters, and that is priority number one.
Bill Donohue is president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization. He was awarded his Ph.D. in sociology from New York University and is the author of nine books and many articles.
March for Life Announces ‘Equality Begins in the Womb’ as Theme for 2022 Rally
(CNS News) -- The March for Life announced “Equality Begins in the Womb” as its theme for the 2022 rally in Washington, D.C. during a Wednesday briefing at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
The March for Life is a rally and march that protests abortion in the United States. The march occurs annually on or near the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Jan. 22, 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. (The 2022 march is on Jan. 21.)
“We want to expand this debate, this rigorous debate, about equality to include unborn children, who are often overlooked because they cannot speak for themselves,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.
Video of the briefing can be seen here.
The briefing featured a panel of speakers who addressed the importance of the March for Life and the relevance of its theme scientifically, legally, and culturally. This year’s march will occur within weeks of the Supreme Court’s hearing of the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on Dec. 1, 2021.
The Dobbs case will determine the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of gestation. If the Supreme Court allows the law to stand, it will upend Roe V. Wade, which sets fetal viability at roughly 24 weeks into pregnancy (six months), a time beyond which states heavily regulate abortion.
“It’s going to be one of the most significant years, I think, for the march yet,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and founder of the Judicial Crisis Network, said at the briefing.
Severino addressed the inscription on the Supreme Court building that reads, “Equal justice under law,” and how the Dobbs case provides an opportunity for the justices to fulfill that promise to the unborn.
“Hopefully, we’ll have some good news in June that will move us in the right direction and continue to promote that equality under law that the Supreme Court is supposed to stand for,” Severino said.
Because of vast improvements in ultrasound technology since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, members of the scientific community now hold more physical evidence as to why babies should not be aborted after 15 weeks.
“Justice Blackman wrote in his Roe decision that, at that point in the development of human knowledge, there was simply no consensus as to the question of when life begins,” Dr. Grazie Christie said. “Perfectly apparent now to the justices sitting on the court, to all of us, to the wider public, is the liveliness and humanity of babies at 15 weeks of gestation.”
Christie, a radiologist and policy advisor with the Catholic Association, explained how ultrasounds provide scientific evidence that a fetus has a heartbeat, working organs, and human features at 15 weeks of gestation.
“It is high time to re-examine the premise of Roe, a case based on a claim about science,” Christie said.
Ryan Bomberger, CCO of The Radiance Foundation, addressed how the Supreme Court has correctly overturned precedent when it is found to be wrong, and they need to do the same with Roe v. Wade if they are going to strive for the equality that is granted to all people under the Constitution.
“Minor v. Happersett was settled law, Dred Scott was settled law, Korematsu v. United States, I mean the list goes on and on,” Bomberger said. “When settled law is wrong, change it.”
Bomberger acknowledged that changing the law and the hearts and minds of the American people regarding abortion has been the mission of his life and the March for Life, which is why he’s passionate about fighting for the idea that “Equality begins in the Womb.”
“Human rights begin when human life begins,” Bomberger said.
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Warren: SCOTUS ‘an Extremist’ Court Willing to ‘Take a Shot at Roe v. Wade’
This week on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) slammed the U.S. Supreme Court as an “extremist court” that was “out of step with the American people.”
Host Jonathan Capehart aired a clip of a Democratic Texas state representative lamenting that the Supreme Court was acting like abortion was “an issue that we need to vacillate over.”
Warren agreed and argued that “70% of Americans” want Roe v. Wade to “remain the law of the land.”
“Look, the court has signaled 40 different ways that it is an extremist court, out of step with the American people, and that it’s willing to line up and take a shot at Roe v. Wade,” Warren outlined. “Now, whether they’ll get rid of it entirely or just let the states continue to chip at it, come on. They’ve given us every possible signal. But for me, what that means is it’s time for Congress to step up.”
She continued, “The American people strongly support Roe v. Wade. About 70% of Americans say they want that to remain the law of the land. We don’t need the Supreme Court to do that. The United States Congress could do that. When 70% of the people support something, by golly, I think we ought to get out there and get it done.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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