Catholic priest denies Joe Biden Holy Communion for pro-abortion stance by Dorothy Cummings McLean for Life Site News
South Carolina, October 29, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― A Catholic priest refused Holy Communion to Joe Biden, former U.S. Vice-President and current Democratic presidential candidate, because of his public support for abortion.
Biden, 76, was refused communion by Fr. Robert E. Morey at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina during Sunday morning Mass.
“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” the priest subsequently told the Florence Morning News.
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“Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church,” he continued. “Our actions should reflect that.”
“Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”
Biden has at times claimed he is personally opposed to abortion. He has drifted farther and farther left on the issue over the years.
He once supported the Hyde Amendment banning federal funding for most abortions, but made headlines this June when he reversed his stance, saying that “circumstances have changed.”
The platform on which Biden is now running includes a suggestion that doctors who refuse to commit abortions be punished and would “weaponize the Justice Department against states to strike down popular pro-life laws — like health and safety standards for abortion facilities, waiting periods, and parental involvement laws — and stop them from passing new ones,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser explained in a July piece in The Washington Times.
As Vice President, the first “wedding” Biden officiated was between two men.
According to Canon 915 of the Catholic Code of Canon Law, those who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion are considered by many leaders within the Catholic Church to be “persevering in manifest grave sin.” Many American bishops, however, refuse to put such teaching into practice when it comes to public figures who support the killing of preborn children. Some are divided on the issue of giving Holy Communion to such high-profile pro-abortion “Catholics” as, for example, Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
Earlier this year Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, Washington said that pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians should not present themselves for communion in his diocese. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois has delivered a similar warning. However, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago has defended giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians, saying that he thinks it “counterproductive to impose sanctions, simply because they don’t change anyone’s minds.”
