Joe Biden received Communion on Saturday at a Catholic Church in Rome despite his obstinate and radical advocacy for the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
The Democrat president and his wife attended Mass at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church a day after visiting Pope Francis at the Vatican, according to the Associated Press.
Father Joe Ciccone led the Mass with two concelebrating priests, the Catholic News Agency reports. Along with receiving Communion, Biden reportedly put money in the collection basket before leaving.
In a comment to the AP afterward, Ciccone seemed to dismiss the gravity of Biden’s sin and unrepentance, saying, “When you’re a public figure you have to make certain decisions, especially in a democracy, on behalf of more than just your own personal feelings.”
The priest continued: “Communion is what brings us together in the Lord. None of us are pure and perfect. We struggle through life. We’re all saints and sinners.”
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A few weeks ago, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another radical pro-abortion Democrat who professes to be Catholic, attended the same church while visiting Italy; she was invited to give a reading during Mass but left early due to security concerns.
Last week, Biden said the pope told him he was a “good Catholic” and he should “keep receiving Communion”; however, the Vatican has not confirmed those remarks. Many hoped Pope Francis would rebuke Biden for his radical pro-abortion actions and urge him to repent before participating in the sacrament, but Biden said they did not discuss the matter.
Many Catholic bishops have expressed concerns that Biden’s claims about being a devout Catholic coupled with his radical abortion advocacy are misleading Catholics and creating scandal for the faith. They have said the church must do something to make it clear that Catholics cannot support the grave moral evil of abortion and must repent before participating in Communion.
In November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is expected to consider a teaching document on Communion that could send a message to pro-abortion Catholics like Biden about repenting of their sin before participating in the sacrament.
Several U.S. bishops urged Pope Francis to speak to the American president about the evils of his abortion advocacy. They noted how the pope repeatedly has condemned the killing of unborn babies in abortions as “murder” and compared it to “hiring a hitman.”
“Dear Pope Francis, you have boldly stated that abortion is ‘murder.’ Please challenge President Biden on this critical issue. His persistent support of abortion is an embarrassment for the Church and a scandal to the world,” Bishop Thomas Tobin, of Providence, Rhode Island, wrote on Twitter before the meeting.
Last week, U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke also called out pro-abortion politicians who profess to be Catholic for creating “grave scandal” by making it seem as though Catholics can support the killing of unborn babies in abortions. Burke did not mention Biden by name.
“They have, in fact, contributed in a significant way to the consolidation of a culture of death in the United States, in which procured abortion is simply a fact of daily life,” Burke said.
Though Biden professes to be Catholic, he has been pushing the most radical pro-abortion policies of any president in history, including allowing mail-order abortions and forcing taxpayers to fund abortions. His administration also is fighting to overturn a pro-life Texas law that has saved thousands of unborn babies from abortion in the past two months alone. And it dropped a lawsuit defending a pro-life nurse from Vermont who was forced to participate in an abortion.
