Democratic 2020 candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden was recently snubbed at a South Carolina Catholic Church after the priest denied him Holy Communion because of his stance on abortion, CNN reported.
On Sunday morning, Biden planned to attend a 9 a.m. service at Saint Anthony Catholic Church during a campaign stop, but Father Robert E. Morey refused to offer the Catholic politician the Eucharist because he supports abortion rights.
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Communion is the point during mass where parishioners receive the Holy Eucharist, which is a piece of wafer and occasionally a sip of wine.
In Catholicism, these offerings are believed to become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law , “A person who is conscious of a grave sin is not to…receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession.”
In an interview with the South Carolina Morning News, Father Morey admitted to denying Communion to Biden.
“Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other, and the Church,” he told the news publication. “Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of church teaching.”
He added, “I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers.”
Biden has voiced support for abortion rights and for the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, legalizing the procedure.
He’s also said he would like to seek to eliminate the Hyde Amendment, the federal law which prohibits federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions with the exception of cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.
Biden previously supported the Hyde Amendment but reversed his position earlier this year after criticism from his Democratic presidential rivals.
This isn’t the first time a Catholic Democratic presidential or vice presidential candidate has been denied communion for their abortion beliefs.
In 2004, former St. Louis archbishop Cardinal Raymond Burk refused communion to Democratic presidential John Kerry. He defended his controversial decision by insisting the sacrament must be protected from someone “who knows that he or she is unworthy and yet presumes to come forward and to take the Holy Eucharist.”
In 2008, Biden was denied communion in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, again for his support for abortion rights.
h/t: CNN , Florence Morning News
