Lou Holtz: Biden and Other Politicians are “Catholics in Name Only”

Lou Holtz accused former Vice President Joe Biden of being a Catholic “in name only,” while speaking at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

Holtz, best known for his decade-long tenure as the head football coach of Notre Dame University, told the convention he is supporting President Donald Trump’s reelection because of the administration’s pro-life stance.

“One of the important reasons he has my trust is because nobody has been a stronger advocate for the unborn than President Trump,”  Holt said. “The Biden-Harris ticket is the most radically pro-abortion campaign in history. They and other politicians are ‘Catholics in Name Only’ and abandon innocent lives. President Trump protects those lives.”

The comments come as the Biden’s campaign makes a concerted effort to woo Catholic voters back into the Democrat fold after many supported Trump in 2016. In that effort, however, the former vice president has struggled to reconcile his longstanding position on social and cultural issues with an increasingly progressive Democratic Party.

In June 2019, the former vice president set off a firestorm on the left by reaffirming his commitment to the Hyde Amendment, a federal rule banning tax dollars from being used for abortion except in cases of maternal health or if the pregnancy arose because of rape or incest.

Although Biden had voted for the rule continuously over the span of his 40-year political career, his public acknowledgment of such support drew the ire of pro-choice groups and activists. Some, like NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue, even claimed Biden’s support for the Hyde Amendment translated “into discrimination against poor women and women of color plain and simple.”

In the wake of such criticism, Biden attempted to appease his detractors by saying he would only continue supporting the rule unless women were in a position to lose access to abortion. That waffle, though, did nothing to allay concerns from pro-choice activists, with many echoing Planned Parenthood by claiming continued support for the rule was “harmful” to women.

After such denunciation and pressure from the likes of Hollywood starlet Alyssa Milano, Biden reversed course, admitting that “times had changed.”

As a result of the change and, more broadly, his support for abortion, the former vice president was denied communion last October at a Roman Catholic Church in South Carolina.