UPDATE: It seems that CNA got out over its skis in reporting that something that was never scheduled in the first place was “nixed”.
Agencies could do better.
CNA reports that Biden’s attendance at early morning Mass on 15 June with Francis has been nixed.
Consider what it would have meant were Francis to have given Communion to Biden. Consider Biden going forward and Francis refusing. Consider Biden not going forward.
All that is avoided. This on the eve of a meeting of the USCCB.
What this suggests to me is a signal from Rome to the Bishops of these USA to, yes, discuss “Eucharistic coherence”.
Moderation is on.
Loading ...
In the meantime, neither his bishop nor his priest care enough about Biden’s eternal soul to refuse him, out of charity, a sacrilegious Communion. Nor is he being guided to repent, confess and publicly denounce and recant all his recent schemes to fund more abortions in the US and overseas.
Perhaps this was a ‘lucky coincidence’ orchestrated by God.
Now more than ever, we should be praying as hard as we can for the *entire* Clergy: Priests, Bishops and the Pope, not to mention our Governments.
The Holy Father decreed this year to be a year of prayer to St. Joseph… I reckon that’s as good a starting point as any.
Fr. Z., I attended the Pope’s Mass at Santa Marta on a weekday in September, 2018. After the Holy Father received, he sat down and another concelebrant distributed Communion to the faithful present. Interesting that he normally doesn’t distribute in public and ‘private’ Masses to the general public.
Some sanity coming out of the Vatican finally? The Pope was big on Eucharistic Coherence when he was Abp of Buenos Aires; even authored a document for the Latin American Conference on it. Maybe this is one line that for him can’t be crossed. He’s preaching the Gospel and not using words (which many times muddies the waters). At least we can be hopeful of that!
I heartily agree with OzReader: we need to pray for the Bishops and their meeting.
I heard an interesting comment regarding Eucharistic Coherence from someone who lived in Europe. He said people there who didn’t believe all the Church teachings would often still consider themselves Catholic but would simply not receive Communion. They would attend Mass on occasion, but not receive our Lord’s Body and Blood. That to me is respectable. It is coherent.
With the mainstream press describing our president a “very catholic” (the Washington Post), it is important for our shepherds to provide clarity to the flock at this time.
Richard, that is indeed the custom I saw in Italy. Politicians who were at odds in their policies or in their living situations, when they were needed at mass, came but did not receive. It was as if they were adults who readily grasped they were not where they should be personally. Nevertheless, out of the duty to family or the state, their presence at mass was demanded.
This is not the position of President Biden. He uses his ‘catholic roots’ as a political tool. He seems, like many americans, incapable of sobriety and depth.
Richard, that is indeed the custom seen in Italy. Politicians who were at odds in their policies or in their living situations, when they were needed at mass, came but did not receive. It was as if they were adults who readily grasped they were not where they should be personally. Nevertheless, out of the duty to family or the state, their presence at mass was demanded.
This is not the position of President Biden. He uses his ‘catholic roots’ as a political tool. He seems, like many contemporary Americans, incapable of sobriety and depth. Modern Liberal Europe has many flaws, but at least their politicians seem like adults- sinful power hungry adults…but.
Finally, I will say Pope Francis surprised me here. I thought he would use this as an opportunity to spike the USCCB debate, precisely because of the political machinations he seems to play to. Nevertheless credit where credit is due. My estimation of him has increased dramatically.
Monsmellis, I don’t know how interesting that is. It’s not unique to Francis.
I certainly don’t know about smaller, routine, in-Rome… but larger public Masses – both John Paul and Benedict would distribute Communion to a selected few and then sit down. Obviously, JP2’s energy level (in later years) would have something to do with that, but otherwise restricting to a selected few (say, children and respected, venerable elders) heads-off scandal and mis-use of visuals (whether at the time or after the fact)
The latest news I read was that there was NOT going to be a meeting at all between Biden and the Pope.
HERE
Of course, the “National Catholic Reporter” has their own view.
HERE
The question I have is why would the Pope (or those handling things for him) wait until the last minute? It’s not like Biden’s non-Catholic beliefs on human life just came out. After seeing the President’s “stellar” performance the last few days, it is just as likely that the cancellation came from his side of the table to allow him some “off time” to mentally recover and limit additional embarrassment.
Imagine the maneuvering taking place between the Biden Admin and the US Bishops Conference.
You can be sure that it involves money.
A public statement that would deny the President of the United States Holy Communion would be a massive broadside to the Dems.
I’ll bet that someone talked Francis out of doing it, but that he wanted to.
Regardless of the effect on the USCCB discussions… the Pope has declined a Mass request from the second Catholic president of the United States.
That quiet cancellation, refusal or mere lack of response to a presidential request speaks volumes.
The CNA post doesn’t say the Mass was cancelled. It says nothing one way or the other. The Pope may well have cancelled the Mass because of Biden’s semi-support of abortion, but if the Vatican has so stated, I can’t find it. In the absence of reliable news to the contrary, isn’t it unfair to make assumptions?
My apologies, I read that wrong. The Vatican did say no to the Mass with President Biden. It would have been awkward just before the Bishops’ meeting. Again, I’m sorry about my over-hastiness.
While I would indeed be willing to credit Pope Francis with making a hard-but-valuable call in refusing a mass (and communion) situation with Biden, the probabilities are against that being ACTUALLY what happened.
Heads of state have ALL SORTS of issues, conflicts, difficulties, and scheduling problems that are hard to sort out. Initial theoretical possibilities, which are explored, USUALLY don’t pan out as really do-able, for a whole host (hah!) of reasons. And 90% of the time, it is the leader’s chief of staff (or even lower down) who makes the call to nix an idea, before it even gets to the prez or pope to choose. It COULD have been as simple as “given motorcade requirements, to make his next stop in Brussels, Biden needs to be moving out the door from Mass at 6:11 am, but the Pope isn’t done with mass until 6:35, so it cannot be done. I.E. nobody “nixed” the meeting, there just never was a meeting possible to begin with. Or, maybe Biden himself didn’t want to take a risk that Francis would refuse him communion. Or maybe one of his political advisors is concerned about Biden appearing “too holy” or “too close” to traditional moral / spiritual leaders for their left-wing base. Or… we really don’t know anything about why what didn’t happen, didn’t happen.
Chrisc wrote: “He uses his ‘catholic roots’ as a political tool. He seems, like many americans, incapable of sobriety and depth.”
Ah yes, because most Catholics these days are known for their “sobriety and depth.”
Regardless, this piece of news may encourage Catholic bishops to grow a spine, and benighted Integralists to acquire a bit more situational awareness. Cheers.
TonyO,
Interesting points, but I disagree.
A photo op with the Pope is always a huge plus for any American politician.
As far as offending his left flank –
Francis, for the most part, has been a darling of the left ever since his election.