The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reportedly has ended its new working group to explore how to deal with President Joe Biden, his Catholic faith and his pro-abortion policies that contradict what he claims to believe.
According to the National Catholic Reporter, the bishops shut down the working group just three months after they began it. While the bishops’ conference did not give a reason for its decision, the news outlet speculated that controversy among church leaders about Biden’s pro-abortion policies and the issue of him receiving communion were at the root of it.
Ten people, led by Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit, made up the working group, and they met twice to discuss how to work with and respond to the new president, the report states.
Its members helped to craft a statement that the bishops issued when Biden was inaugurated. They also worked on a document about the issue of Biden and communion.
Biden touts himself as a devout Catholic who cares about the most vulnerable in society. But 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 abortions and force taxpayers to fund them.
As a result, some bishops have said the president should not participate in the sacrament until he repents, while others say they will not deny it to him. The controversial issue was one that the working group started to address before it was disbanded.
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Here’s more from the Reporter:
According to two bishops familiar with the process, the work of the group is now complete and the group’s proposal to produce a document on the question of Communion will be addressed by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine.
… the group proposed a document outlining church teaching on the Eucharist, “including the fact that our relationship with Christ is not strictly a private affair.” That proposal will now be addressed by the doctrine committee, currently chaired by Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the bishops’ conference, announced the new working group in November while expressing concerns about Biden’s positions on abortion, family, religious freedom and other issues.
“When politicians who profess the Catholic faith support [abortion], there are additional problems,” the archbishop said at the time. “Among other things, it creates confusion among the faithful about what the Catholic Church actually teaches on these questions.”
Biden already is making abortions a priority in his administration. Just a week after taking office, he rescinded the Mexico City Policy and restored tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which kills babies in abortions around the world and lobbies to legalize abortions in pro-life countries.
He also began rolling back President Donald Trump’s Title X policy, which defunded the Planned Parenthood abortion chain of more than $50 million taxpayer dollars.
“It is grievous that one of President Biden’s first official acts actively promotes the destruction of human lives in developing nations,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded in a statement. “We urge the president to use his office for good, prioritizing the most vulnerable, including unborn children.”
Still, some Catholic bishops believe Biden should continue to receive communion, including Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, D.C. 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.”
Others, however, including Rhode Island Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, Bishop Samuel Aquila of the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, Philadelphia Archbishop emeritus Charles Chaput, have said they do not think Biden should receive communion unless he repents.
“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 at First Things late last year. He criticized Biden for supporting a “grave moral evil” that has “resulted in the destruction of millions of innocent lives.”
Biden’s plans and the people leading his administration are radically pro-abortion. They also oppose religious freedom protections for Catholic charities and 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.
About 900,000 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.
Last 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.
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.
