(LifeSiteNews) – LifeSiteNews is launching a petition asking Pope Francis to formally admonish President of the United States Joe Biden and warn him of formal excommunication for his public and obstinate promotion of abortion.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced last week that on October 29 Biden will meet with Pope Francis in Rome to discuss issues such as COVID-19 and climate change. LifeSiteNews hopes that its latest petition will spark a conversation on what the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has called its “preeminent priority” in teaching social justice, abortion.
The LifeSiteNews petition, which by now has received over 12,000 signatures, asks Pope Francis to discuss Church doctrine with the President, and “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.”
In addition to Biden’s own support for abortion, the petition notes that “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.” Reflection on the “deafening silence” from the majority of U.S. bishops, the petition calls for a higher authority to step in.
“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,” it states.
LifeSite’s petition will also be sent 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.
Archbishop Naumann recently delivered a public message to Biden on EWTN, when he noted how Biden “likes to call himself a devout Catholic. I would urge him to begin to act like one, especially on the life issues.”
Scott Schittl, a LifePetitions coordinator, told LifeSiteNews that while appealing to the Pontiff is a “long-shot,” Pope Francis has consistently been a strong defender of the unborn.
“Recently, the Holy Father said that abortion is “murder,” and that those who have abortions, kill. So, he knows that abortion is not a political issue, but rather, the pre-eminent moral issue of our time,” he said.
“Our hope is that the Pope will move forcefully to bring Joe Biden back to his senses, using formal ecclesiastical penalties, up to and including excommunication, to do so,” Schittl continued.
“Over the past twenty years, the U.S. bishops have tried ‘dialoguing’ on this seminal issue, and it has failed miserably. Right now, we need strong action.”
Some Catholic politicians have stated that the Pope should not be involved in politics or tell them what to do. U.S. President John F. Kennedy famously said, “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act …”. But Schittl believes that the Pope not only can tell politicians what to do, but that, in fact, the Pope sometimes has a duty to tell them what to do, or what to avoid, especially where the issue of abortion is concerned.
“Promoting abortion is a grievous affront to Almighty God and antithetical to the life of grace,” he said.
“So, this is a matter of saving souls, both the soul of the politician whose immortal soul is imperiled by his promotion of abortion and also the souls of members of the public who can be scandalized and confused by the actions of such a morally corrupt politician.”
A self-proclaimed Catholic, Joe Biden has advocated a number of policies contrary to Church teachings on the sanctity of life, on marriage, and on the family. The 78-year-old Democrat has been very open about his support for abortion. In the run-up to the 2020 election, Biden promised to “codify Roe v. Wade” and defended “women’s right” to abortion “under any circumstance.” He has gone so far as to call abortion an “essential health service” and wants to enshrine abortion into federal law.
In a decision applauded by abortion giant Planned Parenthood, the Biden administration recently moved to rescind former President Donald Trump’s Protect Life Rule. Trump’s measure banned abortion referral “as a method of family planning” and reduced Planned Parenthood’s annual funding by almost $60 million.
Furthermore, Biden has lent his support to gender ideology and advocates a number of policies that would promote LGBT ideology in everyday life in America and across the world. The first “wedding” Biden officiated in his former role of Vice-President was between two men in 2016; he publicly endorsed same-sex “marriage’ in 2012.
The October meeting could be a “prime opportunity” for the Pope remind Biden that the Catholic Church teachesthat “[f]ormal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense,” and that abortion is always wrong because it kills an innocent human being. Abortion thus violating the Church’s prohibition on murder, a teaching which, according to the Catechism, “remains unchangeable.” Additionally, the Church’s Canon Law stipulates that under no circumstances are those who persist in manifest grave sin to receive the Holy Eucharist.
Pope Francis has himself given mixed messages on the subject of abortion and Holy Communion, for while he has repeatedly condemned abortion as “murder,” he does not instruct pro-abortion figures about the Church’s position on the obligation of public officials to uphold the right to life. According to Biden, Pope Francis himself gave the pro-abortion politician Holy Communion during a previous meeting.
However, under Canon Law 212 §3, Catholics have the right and duty to inform the clergy of their opinions on matters that pertain to the good of the Church and the preservation of morality: “[A]ccording to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.”
Since the Church prioritizes abortion as the “preeminent” moral issue, and given that the Pontiff has recently reiterated the teaching that abortion is “homicide,” LifeSiteNews is inviting Catholics to petition the Pope to ensure that Biden’s scandalous support of abortion become the central focus of their meeting in Rome.