More than half of all Republican Catholics and more than one third of all Catholics believe that President Joe Biden should not receive communion because of his radical pro-abortion position, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.
Religion News Service reports the poll, published Tuesday, examined Americans’ views about Biden’s Catholic faith as well as that of Vice President Kamala Harris, who describes herself as a Baptist.
Biden’s faith, which he mentions often, has been a matter of major controversy in the Catholic Church. While the Democrat president claims to be a devout Catholic, he also is pushing policies to expand the killing of unborn babies in abortions and violate the religious freedom of millions of Americans.
According to the new poll, 55 percent of Catholic Republicans and 11 percent of Catholic Democrats said Biden should not be allowed to receive communion because of his pro-abortion views.
In contrast, 87 percent of Catholic Democrats and 44 percent of Catholic Republicans said he should be allowed. Overall, 67 percent of Catholics said Biden should be allowed to receive communion, the poll found.
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The poll also found that 45 percent of Democrats describe Biden as “very” religious while 63 percent of Republicans say he is not religious.
Catholic professor and pro-life researcher Michael New said Pew likely would have found different results if it had asked Catholics who attend Mass weekly.
“Like many surveys, it asks these questions to self-identified Catholics,” New responded on Twitter. “If they asked Catholics who attend Mass on a weekly basis, they would have found more opposition to President Biden receiving holy communion.”
Biden already has made abortion on demand a priority in his administration. Just two days after taking office, he celebrated the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that led to the unnecessary killing of more than 62 million unborn babies in abortions.
Days later, Biden got rid of 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. Pro-life leaders warned that the money will be used to pressure countries in Africa and South America to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
Then, in March, he signed a COVID-19 relief bill that excludes the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for elective abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs.
Now, he is urging Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would strip away conscience protections for pro-life medical workers and create a “right” to demand an abortion.
Last April, Biden went so far as to call the killing of unborn babies an “essential medical service” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some bishops have said the president should not participate in the sacrament until he repents, while others say he should be allowed to receive the Eucharist.
Recently, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who leads the U.S. Catholic bishops’ pro-life committee, said Biden is creating “a real problem for the church” by advocating aggressively for the killing of unborn babies while calling himself a devout Catholic.
Naumann said Biden’s pro-abortion actions are a “great evil” that “goes very much against fundamental Catholic moral teaching.” He lamented how Biden describes the killing of unborn babies in abortions as “health care.”
