President Joseph Biden’s advocacy of legalized abortion while continuing to receive Holy Communion is the crucial issue confronting the Church in America today. Such a claim is certainly arguable considering the gravity of the evil of abortion and the incongruity of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ while facilitating such murder. Two petitions are currently facing off against one another that highlight the current controversy of a pro-abortion Catholic president’s worthiness to receive Holy Communion. Caught in the crosshairs is Archbishop Joseph Naumann, bishop of Kansas City, KA, who serves as the head of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities.

The anti-Naumann petition

One petition, now with nearly 20,000 signatures, calls for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to remove Naumann as head of the bishops’ Pro-life Committee. This petition is the project of Faithful America and Faith in Public Life. Its advocates, including John Gehring, Catholic Program Director for the latter group, want Naumann ousted due to his February 13th statement, in a CWR interview, that,

The president should stop defining himself as a devout Catholic, and acknowledge that his view on abortion is contrary to Catholic moral teaching. It would be a more honest approach from him to say he disagreed with his Church on this important issue and that he was acting contrary to Church teaching.

One month later Naumann made similar remarks in a March 14th interview with The Atlantic, saying:

Obviously, the president doesn’t believe what we believe about the sacredness of human life, or he wouldn’t be taking the actions that he is. And yet, he continues to receive the Eucharist. We can’t judge his heart. But we consider the action itself a grave moral evil.

Add to this Naumann’s January 28th admonishment of Biden in the homily he delivered at the opening Mass for the National Prayer Vigil for Life: “We must pray and fast that the President will cease attempting to confuse people about Catholic teaching by trampling on the sanctity of human life while presenting himself as a devout Catholic.”

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