There are few things more scandalous than a Catholic public figure declaring himself to be “devout” while at the same time advocating for the slaughter of the innocent. I’m speaking, of course, of President Joe Biden. But I’m also speaking of Pope Francis.

Despite the Pope’s platitudes likening abortion to “hiring a hitman to solve a problem,” he has heaped praise upon abortionist Emma Bonino, calling her “a great Italian.” Bonino had her own child killed by abortion, she brutally dismembered and killed over 10,000 babies in the womb with her own hands, and through her political activism is morally responsible for the murder of over six million children.

Biden meanwhile is hell-bent on having Roe v. Wade enshrined in federal law. More than 2,300 boys and girls are brutally murdered by abortion every single day in America, but that’s not enough for our “Catholic” president, nor our Catholic pope it seems.

A Scandal Pure and Simple

The Biden-Francis meeting at the Vatican on Friday was a scandal pure and simple. It never should have happened. Despite the Vatican’s last-minute decision to curtail press coverage of the meeting, the damage is done. The President is milking the meeting for all it’s worth. Reports in Rome asked whether the subject of abortion had come up, Biden said: “No, it didn’t. It came up — We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic, and I should keep receiving Communion.” Biden was then asked directly whether Francis said he should continue receiving Communion. “Yes,” Biden replied.

Catholics are irate, to put it mildly.

The pope and Biden may see eye-to-eye with Biden on “essential issues” like climate change, poverty, and the pandemic, but compared to the death toll of abortion, these issues are pabulum.

Popes and American presidents have met for decades, going back more than a century when President-elect Woodrow Wilson met Pope Benedict XV in 1919. But the difference here is that today we have a self-declared “devout” Catholic president who publicly advocates for the destruction of unborn babies — so much so that he wants to make it the “law of the land” and fund it with millions of taxpayer dollars.

Pope Francis and his brother bishops have a moral obligation to teach the truth, particularly on issues that impact the most vulnerable. Even though Francis and Biden walk lockstep other issues, it is scandalous that the pope (who leans left on most issues) apparently neglected to bring up abortion and affirmed him as a Catholic-in-good-standing in his private meeting with the President.

Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin challenged Francis to raise abortion with Biden. “His persistent support of abortion is an embarrassment for the Church and a scandal to the world,” Tobin tweeted Wednesday.

U.S. Bishops Discuss Holy Communion — But Their Document Has No Teeth

Biden’s meeting with Francis comes less than a month before United States bishops gather in Baltimore for their annual fall assembly where they’ll vote on a document that discusses Holy Communion, which Catholics believe to be the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.

In June, the bishops voted overwhelmingly to draft a formal document on the meaning of the Eucharist after a contentious debate on whether Biden and other Catholic pro-abortion politicians should receive Holy Communion. But the document they came up with takes no stand. “The bishops made no decision about barring anyone from receiving Holy Communion,” according to a Q&A about the document on the bishops’ website. “There will be no national policy.”

Joe Biden is Publicly At Odds With the Faith He Professes

Joe Biden — the first Catholic president since John F. Kennedy — holds the distinction of being publicly at odds with the faith he professes. Abortion isn’t the only issue where Biden parts ways with the Church. He officiated a same-sex “wedding” in 2016 as vice president of the United States. He has embraced gender ideology by promoting to admiral a man who falsely claims to be a woman. His administration has laid waste to religious liberties through multiple mandates that would force non-profit and for-profit religious organizations to pay for and perform gender reassignment surgeries.

Biden is in trouble with the bishops. So is Nancy Pelosi. And for good reason. Easily the most prominent Catholic politicians in the country, these two have advocated for taxpayer-funded abortion for years. 

The fact is that Biden and Pelosi may have excommunicated themselves from the Catholic Church. Earlier this year, prominent theologian and canon lawyer Cardinal Raymond Burke issued a statement citing canon 1364 of the Code of Canon Law, which imposes an automatic excommunication on apostates and heretics. Apostates, he said, include those who publicly and obstinately violate the moral law, effectively abandoning the faith. Heretics, Burke explained, include those who obstinately deny or doubt the truth about the intrinsic evil of abortion. Excommunication is not “weaponizing the Eucharist,” as Catholic dissidents often claim. It’s rather a ­­­­medicinal penalty meant to awaken a person’s conscience to repentance.

When confronted by a reporter in June about the possibility of being banned from receiving Holy Communion, Biden simply replied: “That’s a private matter, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Wrong. It’s not a private matter when the President of the United States champions the violence of abortion. But he’s right on the second part. It’s not going to happen.

These Pale, Limp Bishops 

The bishops’ failure to act on this decades ago has stripped the Eucharist of its true meaning — and has helped perpetuate the lie that life in the womb is expendable. Since the Holy Father and the U.S. bishops seem unable to hold the President accountable, we have to expect more of the same in years ahead.

Patrick Novecosky is a Virginia-based journalist, author, international speaker and pro-life activist. He met Pope St. John Paul II five times. His new book is 100 Ways John Paul II Changed the World.