US Bishops Prepare for Likely Anti-Catholic Presidency of Roman Catholic Joe Biden
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced Tuesday that it will form a task force to address policies supported by presumptive President-elect Joe Biden which directly contradict Roman Catholic teaching.
The task force will be headed by Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit, according to the Catholic News Service, and will focus on addressing a possible Biden presidency.
Biden, who often invokes his Roman Catholic faith, supports policies explicitly opposed to Catholic teaching, such as same-sex marriage and abortion.
My Catholic faith drilled into me a core truth — that every person on earth is equal in rights and dignity. As president, these are the principles that will shape all that I do, and my faith will continue to serve as my anchor, as it has my entire life. https://t.co/DRsQ2cA9m1
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 29, 2020
USCCB president Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles announced the formation of the task force on Tuesday at an annual conference of American Catholic bishops, noting that “we are facing a unique moment in the history of our country.”
Biden, potentially the second Roman Catholic president of the United States, “presents certain opportunities but also certain challenges,” Gomez said.
The archbishop predicted that Biden “will support policies that are against some fundamental values we hold dear as Catholics.”
“This includes repeal of the Hyde Amendment and his support for Roe v. Wade,” Gomez said.
We need judges who will respect Roe v. Wade as the law, and we need a Congress that will protect reproductive rights. If I’m president, that leadership will start at the top.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 4, 2020
Biden has also promised that as president, he would reinstate Obama-era policies which required a Roman Catholic social services agency to pay for birth control for its employees, even though the Supreme Court ruled in July that the religious group is exempt from Obama’s contraceptive mandate.
Gomez noted that the USCCB has issued statements emphasizing that Roman Catholic bishops have “a preeminent priority of elimination of abortion.”
The archbishop also emphasized that bishops must be aware of “unequal treatment of Catholic schools” during a Biden administration, as well as the restoration of a mandate requiring employers to provide birth control for their employees.
“These policies pose a serious threat to the common good whenever any politician supports them. We have long opposed these polices strongly and we will continue to do so,” Gomez said.
“When politicians who profess the Catholic faith support them there are … problems,” he added.
“It creates confusion among the faithful about what the church actually teaches on these questions.”
The USCCB and Biden transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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