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Pro-Abortion, 'Devout Catholic' Biden Will Not Attend Pope Benedict's Funeral - Is This Why?

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President Joe Biden confirmed Wednesday that he will not be attending the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The funeral for the former pontiff — who died on Dec. 31 at 95 — will take place Thursday in Rome, with Pope Francis presiding, according to The Christian Post.

EWTN’s Owen Jensen pressed Biden, who is often described by media outlets as a “devout Catholic,” at the White House on Wednesday why he will not be traveling to the Vatican.

“You’re not attending his funeral tomorrow though, why?” Jensen asked.

“Well, why do you think?” Biden responded.

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“Well, you tell me,” Jensen countered.

Biden again demurred, saying, “You know why.”

Jensen pushed further: “You can tell me.”

Do you think Biden was uninvited from Pope Benedict's funeral?

“The reason I’m not attending the funeral tomorrow is because it would take an entourage of a thousand people to show up,” Biden said. “We would move everything in the wrong direction.”

The president added that he inquired about attending, but concluded, “We would just get in the way.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre seemed to say Tuesday that Biden was not invited to attend the funeral.

“The U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Joe Donnelly, will represent the United States at the funeral of the pope, in line with the wishes of the late pope and the Vatican,” she told reporters.

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“This is what — this is what their requests were. This is what their wishes were. And so, that’s what you’re seeing from the U.S.,” Jean-Pierre added.

So the question is, did the Vatican not want Biden to attend because of the logistics of having a U.S. president there, or because of his far-left positions on abortion and LGBT issues?

Perhaps it’s both.

Catholic News Agency reported that only Germany and Italy will be sending official state delegations.

Benedict, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was German-born and lived in Italy for more than 40 years.

Biden has taken the most liberal views on abortion, arguably, of any his predecessors.

He called the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization this summer “outrageous behavior.”

Biden issued an executive order seeking to blunt as much impact as possible of the ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

He also threw his full support behind the Women’s Health Protection Act, which went even further than Roe v. Wade in making abortion legal late into the pregnancy nationwide.

Biden called for ending the Senate filibuster to pass such legislation.

The Christian Post reported that before Benedict became pope, he sent a letter “to high-ranking Catholic Church leaders in the U.S. urging them to withhold communion from pro-abortion Catholic politicians because ‘abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin.'”

In addition to promoting abortions, the Biden administration decided to fly the LGBT flag at the U.S. embassy in The Vatican in June of 2021, which probably did not go over well, given the Catholic Church’s support of traditional marriage and gender definitions.

Whether the Vatican did not want Biden to attend Benedict’s funeral for logistical or moral reasons is not clear, but Biden has shown himself to be less than a “devout Catholic” in the policies he has pursued as president.

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Randy DeSoto has written more than 2,000 articles for The Western Journal since he joined the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths" and screenwriter of the political documentary "I Want Your Money."
Randy DeSoto is the senior staff writer for The Western Journal. He wrote and was the assistant producer of the documentary film "I Want Your Money" about the perils of Big Government, comparing the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Randy is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths," which addresses how leaders have appealed to beliefs found in the Declaration of Independence at defining moments in our nation's history. He has been published in several political sites and newspapers.

Randy graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a BS in political science and Regent University School of Law with a juris doctorate.
Birthplace
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Graduated dean's list from West Point
Education
United States Military Academy at West Point, Regent University School of Law
Books Written
We Hold These Truths
Professional Memberships
Virginia and Pennsylvania state bars
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Entertainment, Faith




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