VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — After their much-anticipated meeting in the Vatican, President Joe Biden said to reporters Pope Francis had told him to “keep receiving Communion,” despite the politician’s continued, public support for abortion and LGBT ideology.
Biden asserted that the pontiff “was happy I’m a good Catholic,” and that the president should “keep receiving Communion.”
The 75-minute, private meeting was described by Biden as “wonderful,” a word which was echoed by his wife in her own comments made to the press, before meeting French first lady Brigitte Macron in Rome.
Pope Francis and Biden met Friday, October 29, in a much-hyped meeting, as media outlets speculated whether the Pope would speak to Biden about his staunchly pro-abortion position.
Early press releases from both the White House and the Holy See Press Office briefly noted that the conversation revealed around the “world’s poor,” as well as the “climate crisis” and issues regarding COVID-19 and refugees.
Biden “thanked His Holiness for his advocacy for the world’s poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution,” stated the White House. “He lauded Pope Francis’ leadership in fighting the climate crisis, as well as his advocacy to ensure the pandemic ends for everyone through vaccine sharing and an equitable global economic recovery.”
‘Keep receiving Communion’
As for whether the issue of abortion came up during the meeting, Biden said “it didn’t.”
President Biden on whether the issue of abortion came up during his meeting with Pope Francis: “No, it didn’t … We just talked about the fact he was happy I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion.”https://t.co/opHdwuWcbj pic.twitter.com/8XWTGXv3ah
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 29, 2021
Speaking to reporters while meeting Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Biden also fielded questions about whether the topic of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was discussed, amid the USCCB’s plan to draw up a Eucharistic document which could deal with the issue of pro-abortion politicians receiving Communion.
However, Biden replied “that’s a private conversation.”
UPDATE 10/29/2021:
Joe Biden claims Pope Francis said he should continue receiving Holy Communion, despite the president's radical, anti-Catholic support for abortion. Biden asserted that the pontiff “was happy I’m a good Catholic,” and that the president should “keep receiving Communion.”
Please SIGN this urgent petition to Pope Francis urging him to clarify what he told Biden at his private audience in Rome. Biden should be facing formal excommunication because of his public and obstinate promotion of abortion, but instead we have the perverse situation in which he claims to have the blessing of the pope to sacrilegiously receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Pope Francis must clarify what exactly was said in order to avoid scandal and being complicit in such grave sin. If Joe Biden wishes to return to communion with the Church he must immediately and publicly stop and repent from his active support of the culture of death.
To ensure that this petition reaches Pope Francis, it will also be CC'ed to the Papal Nuncio of the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, as well as to the Chairman of the Pro-Life Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph Naumann.
Indeed, Joe Biden recently proposed a budget which would eliminate the Hyde Amendment, potentially allowing billions of taxpayer dollars to go to the funding of abortion domestically.
So, it is now an indisputable fact that Joe Biden, himself, is forcing abortion on the American public as well as around the world (e.g., Biden's executive order abolishing the Mexico City Policy).
However, since we know that the Church prioritizes abortion as the "pre-eminent" moral issue, and also how the pope has recently reiterated the teaching that abortion is "homicide," we ask the Pope to ensure that Biden's scandalous claim be clarified and his support for abortion be condemned.
This is the prime opportunity for the pope to make it crystal clear to Biden: Promoting abortion is absolutely and utterly incompatible with being in communion with the Church, and that those politicians who publicly and obstinately support abortion effectively put themselves outside communion with the Church, but also merit formal excommunication.
Joe Biden's active and concentrated promotion of abortion since he took office only 9 months ago is a grave scandal to the faithful of the United States, and to Catholics everywhere.
But, perhaps even more scandalous is the USCCB's decision not to directly and publicly address how Biden's radical, public promotion of abortion affects his standing in the Church.
The silence from our American shepherds is deafening.
Therefore, Pope Francis must now intervene to protect both the Holy Eucharist and our preborn brothers and sisters from death, to protect authentic Church teaching from deceitful "Catholics" like Joe Biden, and to protect the faithful from the grievous scandal caused by Biden's claims, action and the intolerable dithering and "dialoging" engaged in by the USCCB.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Biden will meet with Pope Francis to discuss ‘human dignity,’ but abortion left off agenda'
'Biden restores foreign aid to abortion by repealing Mexico City Policy'
'Removing the Hyde Amendment in Biden’s proposed budget will set a precedent'
ORIGINAL PETITION:
Joe Biden is scheduled to meet Pope Francis in Rome in a rapidly approaching audience on October 29th.
Please SIGN this urgent petition to Pope Francis urging him to tell Biden that he will face formal excommunication because of his public and obstinate promotion of abortion, and that if he wishes to return to communion with the Church he must immediately and publicly stop and repent from his active support of the culture of death.
To ensure that this petition reaches Pope Francis, it will also be CC'ed to the Papal Nuncio of the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, as well as to the Chairman of the Pro-Life Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph Naumann.
Indeed, Joe Biden recently proposed a budget which would eliminate the Hyde Amendment, potentially allowing billions of taxpayer dollars to go to the funding of abortion domestically.
So, it is now an indisputable fact that Joe Biden, himself, is forcing abortion on the American public as well as around the world (e.g., Biden's executive order abolishing the Mexico City Policy).
But, reports suggest that the pope and Biden are only supposed to speak about COVID and climate change...
However, since we know that the Church prioritizes abortion as the "pre-eminent" moral issue, and also how the pope has recently reiterated the teaching that abortion is "homicide," we ask the Pope to ensure that Biden's scandalous support of abortion become the central focus of their meeting.
This is the prime opportunity for the pope to make it crystal clear to Biden: Promoting abortion is absolutely and utterly incompatible with being in communion with the Church, and that those politicians who publicly and obstinately support abortion effectively put themselves outside communion with the Church, but also merit formal excommunication.
Joe Biden's active and concentrated promotion of abortion since he took office only 9 months ago is a grave scandal to the faithful of the United States, and to Catholics everywhere.
But, perhaps even more scandalous is the USCCB's decision not to directly and publicly address how Biden's radical, public promotion of abortion affects his standing in the Church.
The silence from our American shepherds is deafening.
Therefore, Pope Francis must now intervene to protect our preborn brothers and sisters from death, to protect authentic Church teaching from deceitful "Catholics" like Joe Biden, and to protect the faithful from the grievous scandal caused by Biden's action and the intolerable dithering and "dialoging" engaged in by the USCCB.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Biden will meet with Pope Francis to discuss ‘human dignity,’ but abortion left off agenda' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/biden-will-meet-with-pope-francis-to-discuss-human-dignity-abortion-left-off-agenda/
'Biden restores foreign aid to abortion by repealing Mexico City Policy' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/biden-restores-foreign-aid-to-abortion-with-repeal-of-mexico-city-policy/
'Removing the Hyde Amendment in Biden’s proposed budget will set a precedent' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/removing-the-hyde-amendment-in-bidens-proposed-budget-will-set-a-precedent/
**Photo Credit: CBSN / YouTube
LifeSiteNews contacted Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, for comment on the matter, but did not hear back.
The Catholic News Agency reported that Bruni had told reporters, “I would consider it a private conversation, and it [the Vatican’s press release] is limited to what was said in the public statement.”
Theorizing after the event, Brother Martin of the Oblates of St. Augustine, suggested, “If the Pope told Biden to *continue* to receive Communion, then abortion *was* brought up. The Pope approves a Catholic to have an active part in legislation permitting infanticide with no canonical penalties whatsoever.”
The absence of any live video stream of the meeting was notable, for while the meeting was initially scheduled to have live press coverage, in line with Vatican norms for meetings with heads of state, one day before the Vatican announced that no press coverage would be permitted, providing no clear reason for the sudden change and causing consternation among the Vatican press corps.
Pope is ‘damning Biden and himself’
News of the Pope’s alleged comments have caused instant consternation amongst Catholics, while the mainstream media simultaneously heralded the event as being one between a politician and a Pope who has provided “familial comfort and ideological inspiration to a President whose faith has long underpinned his public and private lives.”
The news was welcomed by heretical group “Women’s Ordination Conference,” who shared America Magazine’s report on Twitter with the hashtag “#WhoWouldJesusDeny.”
In contrast, Br. Martin wrote briefly: “When the Divine Moral Law is treated beneath the authority of any bishop, he has placed himself above God.”
Speaking to LifeSiteNews, Matt Gaspers, managing editor of Catholic Family News, stated: “Today in the Vatican, the deep state warmly embraced the deep church, to borrow terms frequently used by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.”
“The former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States has aptly described the villainous relationship between Joe Biden and Pope Francis on several occasions, but perhaps most succinctly in his interview with Steve Bannon (Jan. 1, 2021), stating that ‘Biden is the equivalent of Bergoglio.’ Ultimately, as His Excellency told Italian Vaticanista Marco Tosatti (Sept. 12, 2020): ‘The self-styled Catholic Joe Biden, who supports partial-birth abortion, i.e., infanticide, and who even before Obama supported gender ideology and celebrated the ‘marriage’ of two men, is not Catholic. Period.’”
“I wholeheartedly agree and absolutely condemn the diabolical notion that Biden is ‘a good Catholic’ and ‘should keep receiving Communion,’” added Gaspers.
U.K. commentator and author Deacon Nick Donnelly was equally critical of the news, stating that the Pope “tells pro-abortion Biden to keep receiving Holy Communion. Thereby, damning Biden and himself.”
EWTN host Raymond Arroyo noted how the Pope was going “against his own US bishops on this (and canon law). Interesting to see how this plays out…” Arroyo also noted, “The major caveat is: did the Pope actually say this?”
Rhode Island’s Bishop Thomas Tobin was also swift to react, commenting that “I fear that the Church has lost its prophetic voice. Where are the John the Baptists who will confront the Herods of our day?” Tobin had previously written to the Pope on Twitter, asking him to “challenge” Biden for his support for abortion, which “is an embarrassment for the Church and a scandal to the world.”