Daily Caller, by Amber Athey: Former Vice President Joe Biden was reportedly denied Holy Communion at a South Carolina church on Sunday because of his support for abortion.
Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church said Monday that he did not allow Biden, who attended the Catholic Church’s 9 am mass, to receive communion.
“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Morey told the Morning News in Florence, South Carolina. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other, and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign would not confirm whether or not the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate attended the mass at St. Anthony’s.
Biden, who is Catholic, has said that he personally opposes abortion but believes in Roe v. Wade, which codifies a woman’s ability to legally get an abortion. His campaign came under fire earlier this year, however, after he seemingly flipped his position on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions.
The former vice president was a longtime supporter of the Hyde Amendment, but after repeated pressure from progressive groups, announced in June that he would no longer support it.
Biden is not the first Democratic politician to be denied communion over his stance on abortion. Bishop Thomas Paprocki announced in 2018 that Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin would “not to be admitted to Holy Communion until he repents of this sin,” referring to the senator’s vote against a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Our Comment:
This denial of communion is a mild version of the way in which the Catholic Church acted toward recalcitrant members in the Middle Ages in order to keep them loyal to Rome.
Prophetic Link:
“Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.” The Great Controversy, page 571.