By Dave Andrusko
President Biden stumbles over his own tongue so often that when he makes still another faux pas the temptation is write it off as “Joe being Joe.”
But as a self-professed devout Catholic, when he blatantly contradicts both Pope Francis and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on a topic as central as abortion funding Biden must be called to task.
The President “fielded questions from the press outside the White House on Monday, during which a reporter grilled the president on the continued complaints of Catholic leadership regarding abortion funding,” Fox News’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi reported.
“Catholic bishops are demanding that federal tax dollars not fund abortions,” a reporter said to Biden which sparked this response: “No, they are not all doing that, nor is the pope doing that,” Biden replied.
Really? Does Biden actually believe Pope Francis and the USCCB are neutral on abortion funding? In fact, not only are the Bishops and the Pope against federal funding, the USCCB just sent a letter Friday to that effect to the US House of Representatives and the Senate.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities , sent a letter to House and Senate sponsors of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act” (H.R.7 and S.62), in support of the legislation.
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which has also been supported by the USCCB in previous sessions of Congress, would make long-standing prohibitions on federal funding of elective abortion permanent and government-wide, rather than having to depend on various appropriations, which can put these funding protections or other programs for those in need at risk.
“Protecting taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortion in violation of their conscience is a principle that has enjoyed historically broad support among Americans, regardless of their otherwise passionately divided views on the topic. It has also been life-saving,” said Bishop Burbidge. Rather than funding abortion, he continued, “Congress can better serve the common good by prioritizing policies that comprehensively assist women, children, and families in need in ways that will not only encourage childbirth but make it easier to welcome and raise a new child.”
In his story for Fox News, Nerozzi wrote
Last year, Pope Francis was interviewed by Univision and was questioned about Biden’s seemingly contradictory beliefs.
When asked about Biden — a self-professed “devout Catholic” who supports blanket legalization of abortion on the federal level — the pope dismissed the president as incomprehensible.
“I leave it to [President Biden’s] conscience and that he speaks to his bishop, his pastor, his parish priest about that incoherence,” the pope remarked in the 2022 interview.