Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2021 / 11:50 am (CNA).- As Joe Biden took office as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, individual U.S. bishops offered statements of prayer and congratulations.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York tweeted, “Today of all days, we’re one nation under God. In God we trust. We pray with and for President [Joe Biden] and ask that the Holy Spirit bring him wisdom and guidance.”
Today of all days, we’re one nation under God. In God we trust. We pray with and for President @JoeBiden and ask that the Holy Spirit bring him wisdom and guidance. pic.twitter.com/d8NBqVXvPr
— Cardinal Dolan (@CardinalDolan) January 20, 2021
Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago also tweeted, “Join me in prayer for President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris who assume office today. May God give them and all elected officials the strength and wisdom needed to heal this nation and build up the common good.”
Join me in prayer for President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris who assume office today. May God give them and all elected officials the strength and wisdom needed to heal this nation and build up the common good.
— Cardinal Cupich (@CardinalBCupich) January 20, 2021
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark tweeted, “Let your light shine on us, Lord, as we begin a new chapter in our nation’s history. Heal our wounds. Unite us in justice, charity and peace for all.”
Earlier in the morning, the U.S. bishops’ conference was scheduled to release a statement by president Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, offering prayers for Biden and noting areas of agreement but also disagreement between the bishops and the incoming administration.
The statement was not released until the afternoon, after Biden was sworn in to office and around the time Pope Francis published a message to the new president.
“At a time when the grave crises facing our human family call for farsighted and united responses, I pray that your decisions will be guided by a concern for building a society marked by authentic justice and freedom, together with unfailing respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those who have no voice,” the pope said Jan. 20.
As CNA reported, the text of Gomez’s statement–particularly the expression of concern about some of Biden’s public policy positions on abortion, marriage, gender, and contraception–received some opposition within the conference.
“My prayers are with our new President and his family today,” Archbishop Gomez said, adding that he looks forward “to working with President Biden and his administration, and the new Congress.”
“As with every administration, there will be areas where we agree and work closely together and areas where we will have principled disagreement and strong opposition,” he said.
Other bishops offered prayers for Biden while also stating their support for Archbishop Gomez.
Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois said in a statement that while, “It is true that the Catholic Church shares the President’s concern for justice in matters of the economy, health care, and immigration,” there are several of the president’s policy positions “at odds with Catholic teaching about the dignity and integrity of human life.”
“In this regard, given the President’s public profession of full communion with the Church, I am pleased that Archbishop Gomez has spoken on behalf of all the bishops of the United States,” Paprocki said.
“I join Archbishop Gomez and my brother bishops in praying that President Biden will be an effective and virtuous leader of our great nation and that he will truly seek healing and unity, which will necessarily include respect for the God-given freedom of people of faith to practice their religion freely,” he said.
Archbishop Nelson Perez of Philadelphia also tweeted that “I share the sentiments of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement via Archbishop José H. Gomez.”
Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington said in a statement, “I ask Catholics and people of goodwill to pray for all elected leaders as they take on the task of carrying out the nation’s work.”
“We pray also for peace, civility and unity in our nation. The smooth transition of power is a hallmark of our extraordinary American experience and vital to the endurance of our thriving republic,” Burbidge said.
Burbidge also offered prayers for Biden’s conversion on his public position on the issue of abortion.
“Please pray that our new President will uphold the truths revealed and proclaimed in the Catholic Faith he professes. May the Lord grant him the wisdom and compassion to protect the most vulnerable, especially the unborn; respect the dignity of all people; uphold the traditional family as the foundation of society; defend the principle of religious freedom upon which this nation was founded; and advocate for the rights of the poor,” he said.
Bishop Robert Deeley of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, said in a statement, “Every day we should thank God for the blessings of liberty, freedom, and democracy.”
“These are the characteristics of the American experience on full display today in our nation’s capital with the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.” Deely said. “I join with my brother bishops in congratulating him on his election and inauguration. An inauguration is a beginning. That really means that the work of all of us has just begun as together we build our nation.”
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Prayer and fasting. Always good. Thousands of roses? I am sure. It did make the florists very happy.
Archbishop Cordileone asks us to pray and fast. I ask him to actually DO something. He has indicated that he is still in dialog (I hate that word) with Speaker Pelosi. If he has been doing this for all the years he has been bishop of San Francisco, it apparently has not done much good. She just pushed through the House the most drastic abortion bill ever – 218 democrats for and 210 republicans against. To solve a problem you have to accurately identify it. Those voting numbers show where the problem is in eliminating abortion. I don’t recall seeing that addressed by the bishops.
Archbishop Cordileone *is* doing something. Instead of privately begging NP to change her support of abortion, in utter defiance of Church teaching, as his predecessors have done to no avail, he is putting this out in the public. He gives no doubt as to his defense of Catholic teaching and his desire to save her soul from hell, and for attempting to prevent her from leading others into scandal and mortal sin. I’m not sure what else he can possibly do to get through to NP. It is certainly an Act of Mercy for him to ask for prayers and fasting for her soul and for the end of all abortion in the USA. I admire him for his courage and especially for his service to the Church.
In the history of biblical interpretation, the Book of Revelation’s 666 and antichrist has been wrongly and notoriously read to mean one’s enemy or anybody one detests: the Pope, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Saddam, Obama, or Trump, etc. Similarly, Archbishop Cordileone here grotesquely implies by association that those who uphold abortion rights are Satanic.
Are you attempting to grotesquely imply that those who support infanticide are sanctified?
It certainly violates the 10 commandments, and the two commandments He gave us while here.
He is not “implying” it. He is openly suggesting it. And he is correct, Those who uphold infanticide are in the grip of Satan, whom they willingly serve.
I would also note that Satan has achieved the goal of convincing these poor dullards that he does not exist and thereby condones a belief that any action of hums that fulfills their desires is permissible.
Every now and then a statement such as yours causes me to bring up one of my favorite comebacks from about 50+ years ago in the Chicago Tribune by either Dear Abby or Ann Landers in response to an unusually moronic statement from one of her readers:
“You may have a point but if you keep your hat on maybe no one will notice.”
Pope Francis granted Nancy a private audience yesterday. That would be encouraging, if one actually believed that he confronted her about her support for abortion, which he recently termed as “murder.” It is more likely that he was “pastoral” rather than “political,” which would leave her with the impression that she is doing just fine. I think Jesus would have been “pastoral” and told her that she was endangering her eternal soul with her stance. That would be the most pastoral thing to do, as “pastoral” is not a synonym of “being nice.”
First, it is important that we are passionate to stop the murder of the innocent – especially defenseless children in the womb – is grounded in our love of God and His commandments (all of His commandments), including “Thou shalt not kill.” I fear too much of the time the passion of the Pro-Life movement is more about the movement, more about the cause, than the reason for the movement and cause – the eternal God and His commandments. We should be as passionate to change other evils in society as we are to change the evil practice of abortion (murder of innocent children in the womb). I know this will ruffle feathers of some, but it is intended to cause reflection on the real motivation behind the passion, and to ask for that same passion in defending the laws of God in every area of life and society.
Second, Moloch (also known as Molech, Milcom, Milkim, Malcham, Malik) was the name of the national god of the Ammonites, to whom children were sacrificed by fire. While those who support and/or practice the evil of abortion, which is nothing less than child sacrifice, may not believe they are worshiping Moloch (in effect worshiping demonic forces and even Satan), their beliefs in and practice of abortion is evidence they are submitting to the rule of Satan and demonic forces, in effect worshiping Moloch.
I would like to make some follow-up comments addressing Susan K.’s statement that Archbishop Cordileone is doing something. We have different concepts of what “doing” something is. He has been Pelosi’s bishop for nine years. I by no means think that Archbishop Cordileone is stupid. But there is an old saying that the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Obviously what he has been doing for nine years has not worked. Pelosi is more pro-abortion now than she was nine years ago.
Doing something would be enforcing Canon 915 of Canon Law – that she cold not receive the Eucharist. Doing something would be saying that being pro-abortion is a disqualifying issue for being elected to any office. These types of actions may have some positive effect on her. Even if not, it may have some effect on the 50% of Catholics who vote for pro-abortion politicians. As it stands, there seem to be many Catholics who believe that since nothing happens to the pro abortionists, then it must be OK to vote for them.
I would also like to see a little outrage in the bishops’ statements regarding the murder of millions of unborn babies. A little “Woe to you pharisees (pro-abortionists) might go a long way.
This doesn’t have to do with Archbishop Cordileone, but I just saw today that Pelosi had a meeting with the pope over the weekend. Several smiling pictures of the two together. But there was also a news item that she attended mass in Rome on Sunday, and the heckling made her leave church. There is a video of the priest saying that he was sorry she had to leave, as she was going to do the second reading. Good Grief!
To be fair, let’s keep in mind that the president and Speaker of the House both claim that they are opposed to abortion, but they do not think that it is helpful to use government power to stop it.
good