Rhode Island Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin joined a growing chorus of Catholic leaders this week in urging Joe Biden not to present himself for communion because of his pro-abortion stance. Biden claims to be a devout Catholic but holds positions on abortion, family and religious freedom that contradict his faith.
Catholic and other Christian leaders have been urging Biden to repent of his support for the evil of abortion, and some bishops have warned him not to receive communion until he does.
This week, Tobin told WJAR News 10 that he would ask Biden not to receive communion if he came to mass in the Diocese of Providence.
“Under the current circumstances, if I’m still bishop and he were to come to Mass here, I would respectfully ask him not to present himself for Holy Communion,” Tobin said. “Documents from the Vatican have been very clear that a political leader, a public servant who consistently and persistently takes positions against the teachings of the Church on these important moral issues should not present themselves for Holy Communion.”
In late November, Tobin also expressed his thoughts about how the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops should respond to a president who claims to be Catholic but opposes many of its teachings.
“Should the U.S. Bishops seek common ground with President Biden, or confront him on critical moral issues? Yes. Both. We should cooperate when we can and challenge when we must. And the working group appointed by Archbishop [José] Gomez will assist in doing that,” the bishop wrote on Twitter.
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The USCCB recently formed a working group to figure out how to work with the Biden administration.
Biden has touted himself as a devout Catholic who cares about the most vulnerable in society. However, the Democrat leader 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.
This has renewed the debate among American Catholic leaders about whether to give communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
Tobin, Bishop Samuel Aquila of the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, Philadelphia Archbishop emeritus Charles Chaput and others have said they do not think Biden should receive communion unless he repents.
“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 wrote at First Thing earlier this month.
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.
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.
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’s plans and the people leading his administration are radically pro-abortion. They also oppose religious freedom protections for Catholic charities and other employers. His vice president, Kamala 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 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.
