American Catholic Bishops were reported to be considering denying pro-abortion President Joe Biden Communion.
The United States Conference on Catholic Bishops will be meeting in June to decide if they will be denying Biden and other similar high-profile Catholics from the reception of Holy Communion due to their strong pro-abortion stand which is in total contrast to church teachings and beliefs, the Western Journal reported.
The Journal said the move of the USCCB to decide on the matter came after Catholic leaders have raised the need that public figures must not pose as Catholics when they live contrary to the Faith. The Diocese of Lexington Bishop John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., stated that bishops find a common ground with Biden on other issues such as inequality, immigration, and climate change when drilling on the issue on abortion.
In addition, the Associated Press reported that other leaders said denying Communion to such leaders may come as too harsh a step. The bishops will be coming out with a document that would clarify the church's stance on abortion out of the urgency that Biden has ben clearly espousing support for it despite the church regarding is as "a grave moral evil." The said documnent will be released by the USCCB Committee on Doctrine.
"Because President Biden is Catholic, it presents a unique problem for us. It can create confusion," USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities Chairman Archbishop Joseph Naumman revealed in an interview with the AP.
"How can he say he's a devout Catholic and he's doing these things that are contrary to the church's teaching?" he raised.
Naumann explained that once the document gets approved, the issue would make clear the matter on abortion and high-profile Catholics like Biden would have to stop themselves from receiving Communion.
USCCB President Archbishop Jose Gomez formed a working group last November to address the matter and come up a document about it prior to assigning it to the Doctrine Committee.
"Abortion is not just one among many important issues," pointed out San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone in an interview.
"It's a direct attack on human life," he stressed. "They need to understand the scandal that is caused when they say they are faithfully Catholic and yet oppose the church on such a basic concept."
Early this month, the USCCB released a statement against Biden's proposed rule on Title X that reverses Trump's "Protect Life Rule" so as to allow government funding for abortion providers as part of health care. The USCCB expressed "strong objections" to the government's "promotion and funding of contraceptives" through the "Title X-funded projects and programs and facilities where abortion is a method of family planning." They USCCB called Biden's proposal as a "terrible policy" and urged him to retract on his plans.
The USCCB also clarified that "Abortion is not healthcare" in as much pro-abortion groups and literature have purported it to be and have found to integrate it in various messaging strategies, slogans, and laws. The bishops said in a statement last February 26 that it seeks "to marginalize health care providers and others who disagree with them" for it dismisses them to not living at par "to 'the standard of care'."
These groups, the bishops stress, actually claim something that is "contrary to the facts" because "abortion is a marginal practice" that is not "performed nor accepted by most health care providers" and "does not improve (and can even jeopardize) women's life and health."
On the other hand, the Catholic News Agency reported that a USCCB source told them that the reports of the AP and the Washington Post on the bishops intending to deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians and high-profile public figures are nothing but "unfounded" and "at best ignorant of ecclesial structure."
The source said the news item is meant only "to pressure bishops into silence" with regards to the Equality Act, which the bishops find as "ultimately misguided" and "discrimates against people of faith and threatens unborn life". What is true, however, is that the Doctrine Committee would present a "broad document" in June on the fitness for reception of Communion.
