Catholic bishops promise they will not have “a rule to deny communion to politicians”

“There will be no national policy on deny Communion to politicians, “the US Conference of Catholic Bishops reported in a document from the of June.

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The members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a document in which they clarify that they will not create “a national policy on denying Communion to politicians”, seeking to quell the debate within the church about Banning Communion for President Biden .

The move came days after a committee voted to begin creating a teaching document on the Holy Eucharist, or the meaning of communion, which raised questions about s right to abortion like Biden.

The Catholic faith opposes abortion

Biden, who regularly attends Mass and takes communion, downplayed the measure of the se last mana of the US bishops to potentially reprimand him for his support of abortion rights.

In the text, dated 21 of June and released this Saturday by the media, the Conference strongly refuses to adopt this step.

This is how you responded to a vote by one of your committees held last week to begin creating a doctrinal document on the Eucharist or the meaning communion, which has sparked a debate on whether this text for politicians who support abortion rights, like Biden, who is Catholic.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops clarified that the objective of that document is not that : it is about “a clear understanding of the teachings of the Church to create greater awareness among believers about how the Eucharist can transform our lives and bring us closer to our Creator and the life he wants for us. ”

And he stressed that the text is not intended to have a disciplinary nature or targeting an individual or group of people , although it will detail “the responsibility of all Catholics” to live according to the Eucharist.

In this sense, they announced that it will focus on believers supporting “human life and dignity and other fundamental principles of Catholic morality and its social teachings.”

Behind the initiative of the Conference committee is hidden a campaign by a group of conservative bishops who are bothered by the fact that Biden, the first Catholic to occupy the Oval Office in six decades, is also an advocate for the right to abort.

Initially, his proposal sought to go to the extreme of prohibit Communion to politicians like Biden for their stance on abortion, but their proponents ended up backtracking after the Vatican urged them to lower the temperature of the debate.

Biden, a devout Catholic who attends mass every Sunday, has already been denied once in 2019 the possibility of communicating due to that political position; and his team has spent time since then to make sure that when he travels, he does not go to a church where his access to the sacrament may be impeded.

The debate on the subject in the bishops conference reflects the degree to which polarization has reached in the United States for the right to abort , guaranteed in the country since 1973 but turned into a battle horse by conservatives and some religious groups in the last three decades.

With information from National Catholic Reporter and agencies