The "Incoherence" of President Biden

Pope Francis has set himself against the views of President Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and other politicians who claim to be “devout Catholics,” yet fiercely push the practice of Abortion.  The Next News Network reports;

Pope Francis finally took a stance on United States President Joe Biden and his support for expanding abortion access.  For months the Vatican has refused to push back against pro-abortion Catholic Democrats despite individual parishes around the country speaking out against them. Some parishes even went as far as to ban pro-choice Democrat politicians from receiving communion over their position on the controversial procedure.

Now Pope Frances has weighed in on the debate about the self-proclaimed lifelong Catholic president and his policies. In a recent interview, the Pope blasted the president for what he said was “incoherence” in his personal views.  “What do you think about a Catholic president that wants to legalize abortion in the U.S.?” Maria Antonieta Collins asked the pope in the new interview.

Francis responded, “I leave it up to his conscience, and that he should talk to his bishop, his pastor, his parish priest about that incoherence.”

While the new, more pointed statement on the Biden and his policies is certain to create waves, the pope has never hidden his personal opposition to abortion. Just last week he spoke out firmly against abortion and Roe v Wade, saying it doesn’t match up with modern science.

“Science today and any book on embryology, the one our medical students study, tells you that 30 days after conception there is DNA and the laying out already of all the organs,” Francis declared.  “Is it legitimate, is it right, to eliminate a human life to resolve a problem? It is a human life – that’s science. The moral question is whether it is right to take a human life to solve a problem,” the Pope questioned.

Pope Francis, in an interview with Univision and Televisa, commented on Biden’s abortion position after being asked “about whether to admit politicians who promote legal abortion to Holy Communion.”

The Holy Father said, “a month after conception, the DNA of the fetus is already there, and the organs are aligned. There is human life … is it just to eliminate a human life?” As for the president, Francis said that is up to Biden’s “conscience” and “Let (Biden) talk to his pastor about that incoherence,” according to CNA.  Biden’s belief on human life’s beginning is in direct conflict with Church teaching, since he said he “did not ‘agree’ that life begins at conception” in September 2021, and that “I respect them — those who believe life begins at the moment of conception and all — I respect that. Don’t agree, but I respect that.”

Other powerful figures of the Church stand against President Biden and his actions.  The former chair of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, has criticized Pope Francis’ support of pro-abortion politicians as “doing exactly what he warns others not to do.”  Speaking to German newspaper Die Tagespost in an interview released July 13 but conducted earlier this month, Archbishop Naumann of Kansas City addressed the issue of abortion and Catholic politicians, noting also that “many” baptized Catholics  are “not really part of the Church.”  Such people are “shaped by culture and society” instead of Catholic teaching, he said, as “even within the Church, Catholics are often more influenced by secular media than by the Church itself.”

Turning to the subject of self-professed Catholic Joe Biden, Archbishop Naumann repeated his prior criticism of the president, saying that while Biden “claims to be a devout Catholic … it’s not really clear from his actions.”  Biden’s use of the “rosary and his Mass attendance” Naumann described as political tools. The archbishop said the American president “followed the Democrat line, not the teaching of the Church.”

The staunchly pro-abortion Biden responded to the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by signing an executive order promoting abortion on demand last Friday. Archbishop Naumann said in response that the president “has gone to extremes,” and that he himself is “concerned about how many people he is misleading with this.” If Biden has “integrity, he should voluntarily refrain from receiving Communion,” added the Kansas-based prelate. However, Archbishop Naumann expressly stopped short of suggesting that Biden should be prohibited from receiving Communion.

According to national news outlets, “U.S. Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved the drafting of a “teaching document” that many of them hope will rebuke Catholic politicians, including President Joe Biden, for receiving Communion despite their support for abortion rights.  The result of the vote — 168 in favor and 55 against — was announced Friday near the end of a three-day meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that was held virtually. The bishops had cast their votes privately on Thursday after nearly three hours of impassioned debate. Supporters of the measure said a strong rebuke of Biden was needed because of his recent actions protecting and expanding abortion access, while opponents warned that such action would portray the bishops as a partisan force during a time of bitter political divisions across the country.

As a result of the vote, the USCCB’s doctrine committee will draft a statement on the meaning of Communion in the life of the church that will be submitted for consideration at a future meeting, probably an in-person gathering in November.  One section of the document is intended to include a specific admonition to Catholic politicians and other public figures who disobey church teaching on abortion and other core doctrinal issues.

Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, said during Thursday’s debate that he speaks with many people who are confused by a Catholic president who advances “the most radical pro-abortion agenda in history,” and action from the bishops’ conference is needed.  As Bishop Hying’s statement suggests, the American people see the contradictions in the President.  We must ask; is President Biden subordinating foundational Church teaching to his political agenda?