The pope met with the president at the Vatican for over an hour. In a press conference following the meeting, Biden was asked if the issue of abortion came up. Biden said:
“No, it didn’t. It came up — We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic, and I should keep receiving Communion.”
He was then asked directly if the pope said he should continue receiving communion. Biden responded: “Yes.”
Call me skeptical…
The pope said he was happy that Joe Biden is a “good” Catholic? And told him to continue receiving Communion? This sounds more than strange. Further, Biden’s own body language suggests he was delivering a rehearsed line — rather than a spontaneous response to a question. Finally, it’s noteworthy that the Vatican took the unprecedented step of preventing cameras inside the meeting.
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The Vatican even issued their own statement summarizing the meeting and did not mention Communion. They also refused to confirm that Pope Francis discussed Communion with the president, calling it a “private conversation.”
So who is right? Did Joe Biden make this up?
Our guess: The pope might have made some comment to encourage Biden in his faith. Perhaps applauded him for his public gestures of piety. Maybe even encouraged him to attend Mass.
But the pope most certainly did not say what the media (and Biden’s Catholic backers) are suggesting, namely that Catholic public officials who aggressively advocate for killing innocent children are “good” Catholics who should continue receiving Communion. In fact, EVEN if the pope were to say this, it would be false. Church law, teaching, and tradition all say otherwise.
What a shame then that a meeting between the pope and a ‘Catholic’ president of the United States must involve this political gamesmanship. The Church deserves better. And Catholics deserve better than to have to repeatedly try and explain why the Church’s defense of human life binds all of us — president or not — and that the Holy Eucharist and the blood of innocent children are not political footballs.
But there’s another thing…
Joe Biden was in Rome as part of a European trip to press his agenda on climate change. According to sources, this is one of the things he discussed with the pope. And contrary to the left-wing media, the defense of human life is not merely a side issue. It has everything to do with stewardship of the environment.
Pope Francis wrote this in his own encyclical Laudato Si:
“When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected.”
He wrote it is “clearly inconsistent” to seek to protect endangered species while remaining indifferent to the decision of many “to destroy another human being deemed unwanted.”
The pope has called abortion “murder.”
He’s equated it to “hiring a hitman.”
He’s defended true care for the environment as beginning with care for God’s greatest gift — human life. To posture as caring for climate while treating millions of innocent and vulnerable human beings as disposable is simply a farce.
For Biden to pretend that the pope is 100% on board with his agenda is not only a joke — it’s shameless.
LifeNews Note: Brian Burch is the head of CatholicVote.
