The debate of whether or not pro-abortion politicians, such as President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA0, and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) should receive Holy Communion is at the center of a draft document the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is expected to vote on Wednesday, ABC News reported.
As I covered on Monday, the ongoing debate surrounding pro-abortion politicians recieving Holy Communion has been at the forefront since “devout Catholic” Biden assumed office. Reportedly, the document at the center of the USCCB conference in Baltimore this week will clarify who is worthy of receiving Communion, but will not call out any pro-abortion politician by name.
According to a report this week by the Associated Press, the draft states that “[l]ay people who exercise some form of public authority have a special responsibility to embody Church teaching.”
One of the bishops on the committee drafting the document, Bishop Michael Olson, told AP that it should “avoid any trace of partisan politics” but notes that Biden’s abortion stance has “upped the scale of scandal.”
“He’s gone on record as saying abortion is a fundamental right while presenting himself as an exemplary Catholic,” he told AP. “The issue of public confusion is really at stake here.”
Last month, Biden met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, where he told reporters afterwards that the pontiff is “happy I’m a good Catholic and I should keep receiving Communion.” He noted that abortion did not come up during their closed-door 90-minute meeting.
Last week, Pelosi’s archbishop in her home diocese of San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileon, told America Magazine in an interview that he doesn’t believe the Pope said “exactly that” to Biden.
“I tend to believe that the pope didn’t say that, or at least exactly that,” Cordileone said in the interview. “Many people in a position of leadership have had the experience that I’ve had, where often I say one thing and people hear something else. People tend to hear what they want to hear.”
Additionally, America Magazine conducted an interview, published last week, with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). In the interview, the Catholic senator explained that he’s been unable to receive Communion at his home diocese in Springfield, Illinois since 2004 due to his pro-abortion voting record.
“It’s not a happy experience,” Durbin told interviewer Jim McDermott. “I found another Catholic venue, the Archdiocese of Chicago, and a church where they were willing to let me in and allowed my wife to join me. So it’s become my new faith home.”
In June, Biden’s Washington, D.C. parish issued a statement saying that they would not deny Communion to any attendee presenting themselves to receive it.
“Holy Trinity Catholic Church will not deny the Eucharist to persons presenting themselves to receive it,” the statement read. “None of us, whether we stand in the pews or behind the altar, is worthy to receive it. The great gift of the Holy Eucharist is too sacred to be made a political issue.”