The Catholic faith opposes abortion.
President Joe Biden supports abortion, but says he’s a Catholic.
Confused? You’re not alone. So is Pope Francis.
During an interview aired this week by Univision, Pope Francis addressed the issue when he was asked whether it is right to administer Holy Communion to politicians who openly promote abortion.
The Holy Father first cited science as affirming “a month after conception, the DNA of the fetus is already there, and the organs are aligned. There is human life.”
As for Biden, Pope Francis said that’s for him to square with himself. “I leave it to [President Biden’s] conscience and that he speaks to his bishop, his pastor, his parish priest about that incoherence,” the Pope said.
Biden is a professed “devout Catholic,” yet he supports legalization of abortion on the federal level, which is clearly contrary to church dogma.
The president met with the pope back in October 2021, sitting down with the pontiff for 90 minutes. “Did the issue of abortion come up at all?” a reporter asked. “No, it didn’t. It came up — we just talked about the fact that he was happy I was a good Catholic and keep receiving Communion,” Biden said.
Another prominent Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), also professes a deep Catholic faith while supporting abortion. She has gotten into a tiff with her home pastor over the issue. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has denied Pelosi from receiving the sacrament over her support.
“I have determined that the point has come in which I must make a public declaration that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion ‘rights’ and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil,” he wrote in a May 20 letter to Catholics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Last month, Pelosi met with Pope Francis and attended Mass, in which she received Communion. Pope Francis did preside over the Mass but did not distribute Communion himself, so Pelosi received the sacrament from one of the other priests during the service.
For his part, the Pope has said priests should steer clear of politics. Asked in September 2021 if he rejects politicians for their contrary views, he said, “No, I have never denied the Eucharist to anyone, to anyone! I don’t know if someone came to me under these conditions, but I have never refused them the Eucharist, since the time I was a priest.”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.