Pope is a Biden fan, but some U.S. Catholic leaders are a bit frosty
Rift stems from opposition by many in the church to abortion and same-sex marriage
WASHINGTON—U.S. President Joe Biden — only the second Roman Catholic in U.S. history elected to the country’s highest political office — keeps a picture in the Oval Office of himself with Pope Francis.
No doubt Biden can count on partnership with the progressive pope as he reverses many Trump-era policies to battle climate change and reform immigration.
But support within his own country’s Catholic Church looks more tenuous, and Biden has been given a surprisingly hostile reception from the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference under the guidance of Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez.
In the intersection of religion and politics, nowhere does the division between conservatives and progressives in the Catholic Church cleave more deeply than in the United States, as Biden’s election reveals.
“It is extraordinary,” said John K. White, A professor of politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, “that a Catholic president, instead of being congratulated (by the bishops) and saying we’ll work together, while recognizing differences, that they have only deepened the schism.”
The rift stems from opposition by many in the church to abortion and same-sex marriage, while others see a broader interpretation of the sanctity of life, promoted by Francis, to include climate change, immigration and fighting poverty.
The U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, the governing body of the church in America, welcomed Biden on inauguration day with a statement praising his “piety.” But it made a point of noting the new president’s support for reproductive rights.
“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,” said Gomez, president of the conference.
Gomez went on to reiterate that abortion remains the bishops’ “preeminent priority,” adding: “We cannot stay silent when nearly a million unborn lives are being cast aside in our country year after year through abortion.”
At the Vatican, supporters of the pope were not pleased with the Gomez statement. Francis reacted by issuing a message to Biden, repeating the full-throated support he has given the new president since shortly after his election.
Gomez, affiliated with the conservative Opus Dei sect, also met opposition from several U.S. bishops, who said he failed to run the statement by all members of the conference as is required. San Diego’s Bishop Robert McElroy indirectly criticized Gomez.
“Most importantly of all,” McElroy said in his own post-inauguration statement, U.S. bishops “should encourage our new president: by entering into a relationship of dialogue, not judgment; collaboration, not isolation; truth in charity, not harshness.”
In contrast to Gomez’s skepticism about Biden, the conference welcomed the 2017 inauguration of former president Donald Trump, despite his three marriages, extramarital affair with a porn star and widely-publicized comment about grabbing women by the genitals.
The rift inside the church is decades in the making, involving liberal guidelines in the 1960s that subsequent conservative popes overruled. Francis has preached a throwback to progressive grassroots social activism and a more inclusive church.
Biden’s election brought the Catholic divide to the forefront. His hometown parish in Wilmington, Del., has always administered communion to him, but some churches during the campaign refused. A few conservative Catholic leaders have openly raised the highly unlikely prospect of excommunication for the 78-year-old president.
“This is an inflection point of considerable importance” for the church, said George Weigel, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington and conservative biographer of Pope (now St.) John Paul II. “It crystallizes a problem that has been building for years.”
He said Catholic politicians, including Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have sacrificed their right to communion because of their support for abortion rights.
“This is not about politics,” Weigel said. “It is the integrity of the church.”