12 . 23 . 20
As President-elect Joe Biden prepares his government, the bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States face a new challenge: a Catholic president who will publicly oppose his Church on fundamental moral issues including life, marriage and family, and religious liberty.
Biden is neither the first Catholic president, nor the first one to disagree with the Church on policy. But in President John F. Kennedy’s day, the issues were categorically different. Kennedy disagreed with bishops on matters that were open to prudential judgement. Biden, on the other hand, has broken with the Church on issues that are non-negotiable and foundational. This is a crisis for the common good of our society, and a particular crisis for the bishops, who have a prophetic mission to lead the faithful to the truth of the human person.