The Biden-Harris Transition team announced Thursday that Mr. Biden had spoken by telephone with Pope Francis, who offered him “blessings and congratulations.”
The press release does not specify who initiated the call, but only that “President-elect Joe Biden spoke this morning with His Holiness Pope Francis.” Since, however, the pope as a rule does not call to congratulate people for political victories, it must be assumed that the Biden team made the call.
“The President-elect thanked His Holiness for extending blessings and congratulations and noted his appreciation for His Holiness’ leadership in promoting peace, reconciliation, and the common bonds of humanity around the world,” the press release declares.
“The President-elect expressed his desire to work together on the basis of a shared belief in the dignity and equality of all humankind on issues such as caring for the marginalized and the poor, addressing the crisis of climate change, and welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees into our communities,” the communiqué concludes.
On reading the communiqué, the Associated Press (AP) came to the extraordinary conclusion that “even the pope considers the U.S. presidential race over,” when nothing of the sort is alleged in the Biden-Harris press release.
For his part, the director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni confirmed on Friday that Pope Francis was indeed involved in a call with Mr. Biden but offered no specifics as to the content of their conversation.
If Joe Biden is confirmed as president, he will become the second Catholic president in U.S. history, after John F. Kennedy. Mr. Biden’s has distanced himself from Church teaching on key matters such as abortion, gay marriage, gender theory, and school choice, all of which promises a rocky relationship ahead with Catholic leaders.
During the campaign period, the U.S. Catholic bishops declared that the abortion question is the “preeminent” political issue of our time and should inform the consciences of all Catholic voters. At the same time, Joe Biden was flouting Catholic teaching, promising to help overturn the Helms and Hyde Amendments, which protect U.S. taxpayers from funding abortion domestically and abroad.
Last June, Mr. Biden appeared in a Planned Parenthood advertisement, promising the abortion giant the full support of his presidency.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Mr. Biden’s candidacy and Planned Parenthood acting president Alexis McGill Johnson described the presidential race as “literally a life and death election.”
“We felt like we can’t endure another four years of Trump; we have to do everything we can to get him out of office,” Ms. McGill Johnson said.
In the advertisement, Mr. Biden promised to expand women’s healthcare, a Planned Parenthood euphemism for abortion.
Biden went on to promise to restore federal financing for abortion both domestically and abroad.
“Together we’re going to reverse the global gag order, the domestic gag order, restoring the Title X program,” Biden continued, in reference to the Helms and Hyde Amendments.
“We will protect women’s constitutional right to choose, and I am proud to stand with you in this fight,” Biden said.
Planned Parenthood has blasted Pope Francis for his staunch pro-life message, accusing the Pope of hampering “women’s health” and taking “a back seat when it comes to reproductive health and women’s rights.”
The Roman Catholic Church, to which Mr. Biden belongs, considers abortion to be murder and attaches its highest penalty — that of automatic excommunication — to anyone who “procures a completed abortion.”
Last fall, a Catholic priest in South Carolina denied the former vice president Holy Communion during Sunday Mass because of his staunch position in favor of abortion.
“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” said the pastor at Saint Anthony Catholic Church, Father Robert E. Morey. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that.”
For his part, Pope Francis has been a vocal opponent of the pro-abortion lobby, which he has compared to the Italian Mafia. He has also decried the lie “that supporting abortion somehow helps women,” calling it a “false compassion.”
In the course of his pontificate, the pope has driven home a pro-life message in address after address, calling abortion a “scourge” on society and insisting that “a just society recognizes the primacy of the right to life from conception to natural death.”
Francis has also been a stern critic of what he calls the “gender politics” behind gay activism, calling modern gender ideology “demonic” and comparing gender theory with “the educational policies of Hitler.”