A second Catholic archbishop spoke out this week against Joe Biden receiving communion unless he repents of his support for killing unborn babies in abortions.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila, of the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, agreed with Archbishop Charles Chaput who, earlier this month, said Biden, a pro-abortion Democrat, should not receive communion even though he claims to be a devout Catholic.
“Archbishop Chaput speaks the truth for the salvation of souls,” Aquila wrote on Twitter over the weekend. “The scandal & confusion are real & when we don’t treat the Eucharist with love & reverence our faith is weakened in the real presence.”
Aquila referred to a quote from Chaput arguing that the Catholic Church should make a “strong and consistent response” to Catholic politicians who support abortion and other evils.
“Mr. Biden has said that he will continue to advance those same policies as president, and thus should not receive Holy Communion. His stated intention requires a strong and consistent response from Church leaders and faithful,” Chaput said.
Bidenhas touted himself as a devout Catholic who cares about the most vulnerable in society. However, he also hypocritically champions positions that contradict the teachings of his faith and jeopardize the lives and freedoms of millions of Americans, the worst being his plans to expand the killing of unborn babies in abortions and force taxpayers to fund their deaths.
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This has renewed the debate among American Catholic leaders about whether to give communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
Chaput, the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, is against giving communion to those who refuse to repent, according to the Catholic News Agency.
“By his actions during the course of his public life, Mr. Biden has demonstrated that he is not in full communion with the Catholic Church,” Chaput wrote in a column at First Things.
He criticized Biden for supporting abortion, a “grave moral evil” that has “resulted in the destruction of millions of innocent lives.”
“When bishops publicly announce their willingness to give Communion to Mr. Biden, without clearly teaching the gravity of his facilitating the evil of abortion … they do a serious disservice to their brother bishops and their people,” he continued.
He said the matter is one of faith, not politics, and bishops have a “unique responsibility before the Lord for the integrity of the sacraments” as well as “pastoral concern for a man’s salvation.”
Other Catholic leaders, however, disagree. Last month, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, D.C. said he will not refuse to give communion to Biden, despite his pro-abortion stance.
Gregory said it is normal for Catholics to have disagreements; they are part of “being a family, a family of faith. The difficulty is too many people want to throw out of the family of faith people with whom they have disagreements.”
Biden and his vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris want to expand the killing of unborn babies in abortions and force taxpayers to pay for them. They also oppose religious freedom protections for Catholic charities and other employers, and Harris has been accused of anti-Catholic bigotry. She also prosecuted pro-life undercover journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s aborted baby body parts trade.
If Biden takes office and does what he promised, abortions could increase across America. Not only does Biden plan to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturns it, he also wants to end the Hyde Amendment and force taxpayers to pay for elective abortions.
More than 800,000 unborn babies are aborted every year in America, and about 62 million have been aborted since 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court forced states to legalize abortion on demand. Without the Hyde Amendment, researchers at the Charlotte Lozier Institute predict 60,000 more unborn babies could be killed in abortions each year.
In April, Biden went so far as to call the killing of unborn babies an “essential medical service” during the coronavirus pandemic. His health care plan would expand abortions as well by forcing insurance companies to cover abortions as “essential” health care under Obamacare.
He also promised to undo all of Trump’s progress for life, including restoring funding to the billion-dollar abortion chain Planned Parenthood.
On religious freedom, Biden’s position also is deeply troubling. Biden has endorsed anti-religious freedom policies that would force nuns, religious charities and hospitals to violate their deeply-held beliefs by funding the killing of unborn babies in abortions and potentially even by helping to facilitate their deaths. He also promised to restore an Obama-era mandate that would force the nuns with Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious employers to fund contraception, including types that may cause abortions, in their employee health insurance plans.
