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USCCB pro-life chairman urges Biden to act like the ‘devout Catholic’ he says he is

Katie Yoder By Katie Yoder for CNA

President Joe Biden waves as he departs Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington April 10, 2021. (CNS photo/Erin Scott, Reuters)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 12, 2021 / 10:53 am (CNA).

The U.S. Catholic bishops’ pro-life chairman is expressing disappointment with President Biden as his administration reverses a Trump-era rule that restricted funding over abortion.

“It’s really sad,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, who heads the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, told EWTN News Nightly on Oct. 8. The Biden administration, he added, is “in the control of abortion extremists.”

The archbishop reacted to the administration’s reversal of the “Protect Life Rule,” which barred tax dollars from Title X recipients that provide or promote abortion and required Title X clinics to be physically separate from abortion clinics. A federal program, Title X subsidizes family planning services, including contraceptives, for low-income communities.

The archbishop challenged President Biden – the second Catholic president in U.S. history – to defend and cherish human life.

“He likes to call himself a devout Catholic. I would urge him to begin to act like one, especially on the life issues,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann said. “And to let his faith really inform his conscience and the decisions that he’s making, not the platform of his party.”

President Biden has repeatedly demonstrated support for abortion. After decades of backing the Hyde Amendment, which barrs taxpayer funding from going toward abortion, he switched his position while running for president. More recently, in the wake of Texas’ new abortion law, he confirmed that his administration is “deeply committed” to abortion as a constitutional right. According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, the president “believes that it’s up to a woman to make those decisions and up to a woman to make those decisions with her doctor.”

Right now, the archbishop said, the Biden administration is “looking for every opportunity to expand abortion,” and this latest reversal is “just one more casualty along that train.”

In an Oct. 7 statement, Archbishop Naumann stressed that Title X was “intended and authorized to be a program entirely separate from abortion.” Abortion, he concluded, is not family planning. Instead, it wounds women and “takes the life of an already-conceived and growing child.”


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15 Comments

  1. “He likes to call himself a devout catholic. I would urge him (Biden) to begin acting like one, especially on the life issues,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann said. “And to let his faith really inform his conscience and the decisions he is making, not the platform of his party.”
    Well, that should do it. Based on this admonition I expect that Biden will now become the most pro-life president we have ever had.
    Does anyone believe that Biden will change his spots based on this statement. Is the Archbishop, and are other bishops, making statements like this in the belief that gullible Catholics think that something worthwhile is being done?
    I think the upcoming bishops meeting and the proposed document on the Eucharist will tell us much. If nothing is addressed at the scandal that prominent pro-abortion catholic politicians are causing, we will know that their talk is empty.
    And a statement, with no names, and seemingly addressed to a nameless bipartisan group of politicians, will not fly.

  2. I strongly differ with Archbishop Naumann.

    The Biden administration is not “in the control of abortion extremists.”

    The Biden administration ARE the abortion extremists, and all-abortion-all-the-time is their defining issue, their driving force, their litmus test, their animating principle, their end-all and their be-all.

    The Democrats’ commitment to abortion is second only to their absolute, unwavering, monomaniacal thirst for power.

    And it’s a very close second.

  3. Only an extremely foolish man, who does not fear God would boast to the world about how holy and righteous he is, all the while publically and privately commiting evil deeds and endorsing the works of Satan. It’s truly sad not just for a career politician like Biden but for our entire beloved nation.

    • I salute you for the courage to state that — “all the while publically and privately committing evil deeds and endorsing the works of Satan.”

  4. Given that the House Speaker met the Pope and received no admonishment, there is no reason not to expect the same for Joe at Halloween.

  5. Bishop Naumann is being what the pope calls “pastoral” in calling out Chairman Joe for the split personality of his soul; that is, personally (supposedly) being against abortion but not inflicting his belief on others. Jesus didn’t tell the Apostles, “Here’s the Gospel, but keep it to yourselves.” I don’t see that this pope has what it takes to be truly “pastoral,” in teaching what it takes to attain eternal life. He’s busy sucking up to Nancy Pelosi and leaving the impression that she’s doing okay. He will do the same when he sees Chairman Joe later this month. Pastoral requires intestinal fortitude. Pope Francis has yet to show any.

    • The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit are what all wayward bishops and priests and deacons need to have a good retreat upon and then all will know what it means to be pastoral toward the family members of the Lords’ church.

  6. The Devils Workshop has to add another shift with Biden/Obama,and Pelosi,Soros,Jarrett,
    and the Clinton’s behind the “Curtains” pulling the levers and strings.That make their
    consistency dance and sing. We even see how a certain percentage of RINOS love to get on the floor, and clapping their hands join the Devils Dance down to the River Styx.Where Charon waits to welcome them aboard !

  7. I’M GOING TO MAKE A COMMENT NOW AND ITS GOING TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST. I JUST HOPE & PRAY THAT ITS TAKEN IN THAT SPIRIT. SO HERE GOES: I’M SICK TO DEATH OF HEARING JUST HOW ‘DEVOUT’ ALLEGED ‘PRESIDENT’ BIDEN IS. (THINK ‘STOP THE STEAL’) ALSO, BESIDES HIS VERY OBVIOUS SPOTTY RECORD IN DEFENDING HIS “WIN,” THERE’S ALSO HIS HORRIFYING RECORD OF BEING POSSIBLY THE WORST EVER PRESIDENT IN PUSHING ABORTION ON DEMAND NATIONALLY & INTERNATIONALLY. YE GODS, THE MAN NEVER STOPS, THE DEMONIC GIFT JUST KEEPS GIVING. ‘NUFF SAID, THAT’S MY STAND. MAY GOD BLESS ALL.

  8. It’s pretty late now for Bishops to condemn Biden. They should have confronted him before the election and he might not have won. I am not a fan of Trump but Biden and his administration are a disaster.

  9. It is so easy to put down and criticize the behavior of others, but my remember that only God knows the truth of our hearts and the state of our souls. Perhaps my faith is too “simplistic.”

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