Biden taking Communion may be at risk
US Catholic bishops could take stance on those who support abortion rights
When U.S. Catholic bishops hold their next national meeting in June, they’ll decide whether to send a tough message to President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians: Don’t receive Communion if you persist in public advocacy of abortion rights.
At issue is a document to be prepared for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by its Committee on Doctrine to clarify the church’s stance on an issue that has vexed the bishops in recent decades. It’s taken on new urgency now because Biden — only the second Catholic president — is the first to hold that office while espousing support for abortion rights.
Such a stance is “a grave moral evil,” according to Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities and believes it necessary to publicly rebuke Biden on the issue.
“Because President Biden is Catholic, it presents a unique problem for us,” Naumann told the Associated Press. “… How can he say he’s a devout Catholic and he’s doing these things that are contrary to the church’s teaching?”
The document, if approved, would make clear the USCCB’s view that Biden and other Catholic public figures with similar viewpoints should not present themselves for Communion, Naumann said.
In accordance with existing USCCB policy, it would still leave decisions on withholding Communion up to individual bishops. In Biden’s case, the top prelates of the jurisdictions where he worships frequently — Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington, Delaware, and Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. — have made clear that Biden is welcome to receive Communion at churches they oversee.