Nominal Catholic Joe Biden, who has run into trouble with the Catholic hierarchy because of his history of support for abortion-friendly legislation, made a strong pitch to Catholic voters in Iowa, who make up 23 percent of the state’s population.
However, because of delays in the reporting of the February 3 caucus voting caused by difficulties using a new smartphone app, it is unknown how effective Biden’s — or the other candidates’ — strategies were.
A February 1 report from Politico said that Biden was trying to capitalize on his Irish Catholic upbringing in a strong attempt to woo Iowa’s Catholic voters.
The report quoted Dubuque County Democratic Chair Steve Drahozal, who was raised Catholic.
Drahozal said Biden has been very obvious about pitching to Catholic voters. “Every time he stops in Dubuque, Biden mentions seeing the nuns here,” Drahozal said.
Politico observed that Biden’s pitch to Catholics is as much about culture as it is religion as he tries to connect with older voters who are of Irish, German, Polish, and Italian descent and who live throughout the Rust Belt.
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Whether Biden’s attempts to connect with cultural Catholics in Iowa were successful will not be known until the results are tallied, but faithful Catholics are very likely to be bothered by Biden’s disregard for the church’s teaching on abortion. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say on the matter:
Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:
You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.
Biden claims he agrees with the church’s teaching, but said in an interview in 2015: “I’m prepared to accept that at the moment of conception there’s human life and being, but I’m not prepared to say that to other God-fearing [and] non-God-fearing people [who] have a different view.”
His refusal to translate his claimed beliefs into public action has gotten Biden into hot water with several Catholic bishops and priests over the years, as The New American has reported since 2012. An article in this magazine back then quoted columnist Daniel Cole, who asked Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, “If Vice President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, were to swing through Colorado Springs on a campaign tour and attend your Mass, would you deny him Communion?”
Sheridan answered: “He should know, and I would do everything I could do to make sure that he knows, he ought not to be receiving Communion.”
The New American last October quoted the Reverend Robert E. Morey, pastor of St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina, who said, “I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden. 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 … outside of Church teaching.”
Photo: AP Images
Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected].
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