Pope Francis and US Catholic bishops have delegated authority to interpret Catholic Doctrine to United States “pope”, The Reverend Joseph Biden!
Joe Biden has paraded around Washington for more than 40 years as one of the most devoted Christian politicians that perhaps the world has ever seen.
He has, as an integral part of his political self-promotion shtick, presented himself as a “devout, regular church-attending, moral Roman Catholic”.
To the Christian public, liberal media oft reminds that ‘Joe’ is that “decent”, “moral” Catholic whose faith guides him in every action and decision in both his private and public life. Film of he and DOCTOR Jill attending Mass on Sunday often makes the airways and news photos.
It is Joe’s faith, fortified by regular attendance in church and his devotion to the Holy Eucharist, that has sustained him through life and most especially in currently leading his nation in the most moral and humane and compassionate ways possible.
So strong is President Biden’s faith that, as he has to Xi Jin Ping in Communist China, Pope Francis bestows upon him an almost “National Popeship”, allowing both President Xi and President Biden to guide, interpret, and influence Roman Catholic Church doctrine as they see fit for their respective countries. (Pope Francis allows the Chinese Communist government to approve who is to be Catholic bishops in China
https://thehill.com/policy/international/407926-pope-recognizes-seven-bishops-selected-by-chinese-government.)
Thus “Pope Joe” joins “Pope Xi” as Francis’s “Co-Popes”.
Blessed be Their Holinesses: Fran, JinPing, and Joe.
(It seems to us that if there is some other fundamental doctrine of the Church that a Catholic may disagree with, it may be ignored…if a ‘sin’ to do so, that’s what the Holy Eucharist is for, as “the bread of sinners”.). dlh
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Members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are trying to clarify their position and deal with the confusion caused by their announcement last weekthat they would create a teaching document on the Holy Eucharist or the meaning of Communion. The statement caused many to speculate that the church was looking to deny President Joe Biden and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians from receiving Communion.
The speculation was misplaced, said the bishops.
“There will be no national policy on withholding Communion from politicians,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a Q&A document dated June 21.
“The intent is to present a clear understanding of the Church’s teachings to bring heightened awareness among the faithful of how the Eucharist can transform our lives and bring us closer to our creator and the life he wants for us,” the document continued.
The bishops say the document being drafted is “not meant to be disciplinary in nature, nor is it targeted at any one individual or class of persons.” But it would spell out “the responsibility of every Catholic” to live in accordance with the church’s teachings.
The committee vote last week triggered debate within the church over whether Biden and other politicians should be denied the right to participate in communion based on their stance on abortion.
Jayd Henricks, a former top lay official with the bishops conference, told The Washington Post on Friday that though Biden’s election set in motion the document’s creation, bishops have a larger concern about Catholics not understanding communion.
He clarified that the use of the words “national policy” was about “giving guidance on a national level,” The Post reported.
The bishops are a conservative group with many having expressed the opinion that Biden and other Democratic politicians like Nancy Pelosi who not only support abortion but advocate for it, are not in a “state of grace” which is necessary to receive Communion. Pope Francis has tried to straddle the issue but is in favor of not “weaponizing” Communion as a “political weapon.”
The result is a rare, open rift between Rome and the American church.
Opponents of the vote suspect a more naked political motivation, aimed at weakening the president, and a pope many of them disagree with, with a drawn-out debate over a document that is sure to be amplified in the conservative Catholic media and on right-wing cable news programs.
The church hierarchy is split around the world over the pontificate of Pope Francis. For all his admonitions against bringing politics into the church, his own pronouncements have a profound political impact. If he wants Catholic conservatives to shut up, perhaps he should engage them in some meaningful dialogue instead of sniping at them from afar.
