The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has voted to draft policies potentially denying communion to pro-abortion politicians.
As per RedState, the USCCB has voted to draft a policy that could deny communion to pro-abortion politicians like President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The said policy would "encourage priests to refuse Communion to Catholics who they know to be in a state of mortal sin." The outlet pointed out that this battle was "brewing for a couple of decades" in the Catholic Church in America and was heightened with Biden's presidencey.
The USCCB voted 168-55 to proceed in the drafting on the policy for discussion in their next meeting later in November. This meant 75% of U.S. bishops have agreed to "move forward on an issue vehemently opposed by the progressive caucus is hard to overstate."
The USCCB published last Friday the nine items they approved during their three-day virtual Spring General Assembly that began June 16. Item #7 pertained to a "formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist" and not a policy that the bishops approved to be drafted.
"The full body of bishops also voted to task the Committee on Doctrine to move forward with the drafting of a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church. Requiring a simple majority vote for approval, the action item passed with 168 votes in favor, 55 against, and 6 abstentions," the USCCB said in its website.
Alongside the meaning of the Eucharist, the other items voted on as "action items" in the bishop's meeting agenda included the (Items 1 &2) "canonical consultation" for the causes of Joseph Verbis Lafleur and Marinus LaRue's beatification and canonization, respectively; a formal statement (Item 3) for the Native American and Alaska Native Ministry; Latin translations for the Liturgy (Items 4-6); "drafting a National Pastoral Framework for Youth and Young Adults" (Item 8); and approval of the National Pastoral Framework for Marriage and Family Life Ministry (Item 9).
The USCCB then clarified on Monday what the drafting of the formal statement that they voted upon meant after news came out that the bishops have already advanced with a policy that specifically targets and rebukes Biden.
"Last week, my brother bishops and I voted overwhelmingly to issue a teaching document on the beauty and power of the Eucharist. The doctrine committee of the bishops' conference will now begin drafting this document and, in the months ahead, the bishops will continue our prayer and discernment through a series of regional meetings and consultations. In November, the bishops will gather to discuss the document draft," USCCB President Archbishop José H. Gomez said in the statement released in their website.
Gomez elaborated on the importance of the Eucharist to Catholics since it is "the heart of the Church and the heart of our lives." He stressed that it is through the Eucharist that Jesus Christ "draws near to each one of us personally" so that Catholics will be "together as one family of God and one Body of Christ."
"As bishops, our desire is to deepen our people's awareness of this great mystery of faith, and to awaken their amazement at this divine gift, in which we have communion with the living God. That is our pastoral purpose in writing this document," Gomez pointed out.
Gomez ended his statement by inviting Catholics not only to pray for their bishops as they continue to dialogue and reflect on the Eucharist, but also to take "a time for all of us" to reflect on their own faith and in their "readiness to receive our Lord in the Holy Eucharist."
The issue on the worthiness of pro-abortion politicians and high-profile public officials to receive Holy Communion resurfaced two months before the bishop's Spring Assembly since it was projected to be a part of their agenda. Mostly mentioned to be "denied of communion," as per a report by Western Journal, was Biden and Pelosi, who even reacted that she can use her "own judgment on that."
Pelosi's bishop, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, declared in May through a pastoral letter that "those who reject the teaching of the Church on the sanctity of human life and those who do not seek to live in accordance with that teaching should not receive the Eucharist."
