The Catholic Church has laid the framework for a public rebuke of President Joe Biden because he receives Holy Communion while supporting reproductive rights.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has approved the creation of a “teaching document” that includes a “specific admonition to Catholic politicians and other public figures who disobey church teaching on abortion and other core doctrinal issues,” according to The Associated Press.
The bishops voted 168 to 55 in support of the document’s creation, which will be drafted in the coming months and likely be discussed at the USCCB’s November meeting.
Depending on the substance of the document, it could result in Biden being denied communion.
The topic dominated the agenda at the annual spring gathering of the Church’s American leaders. From The Washington Post:
“Our credibility is on the line. … The eyes of the whole country are on us. If we don’t act courageously, clearly and convincingly on this core Catholic value, how can we expect to be taken seriously on another matter?” asked San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. He was among the members who urged the creation of the document, an idea that grew from Biden’s election in November and concern about the image of him receiving Communion at Mass each week.
“This is a Catholic president that’s doing the most aggressive thing we’ve ever seen in terms of this attack on life when it’s most innocent,” said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City.
Yet, other bishops were reluctant to wade into what can be perceived as a partisan political battle, echoing a sentiment from Pope Francis, who recently said Communion “is not the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners.”
Before the meeting, a top Vatican official wrote to the USCCB expressing concern that the vote may “become a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States.”
“I can’t help but wonder if the years 2022 and 2024 might be part of the rush” said Bishop Robert Coerver of Lubbock, Texas said of the vote. “And I think we need to be real careful not to get embroiled in the political situation.”
“Bishops now want to talk about excluding people at a time when the real challenge before them is welcoming people back to the regular practice of the faith, and rebuilding their communities,” Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago warned.
More from NPR:
About two-thirds of American Catholics believe Biden should be allowed to receive Communion, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center released in March. But many Catholics – like Americans in general – are starkly divided on the issue by party; more than half of Catholics who also identify as Republicans said Biden should not be allowed to receive the sacrament because of his views on abortion.