Biden has been welcomed by Pope Francis — but shunned by right-wing US Catholics: report

President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, has been welcomed by Pope Francis. But reporter Kathryn Joyce, in an article published by Mother Jones on November 26, stresses that while Biden is on friendly terms with the Pope, some right-wing bishops in the United States remain openly hostile to him.

“Once Biden won, many right-wing Catholics shifted their focus and became players in various efforts to overturn the election results,” Joyce explains. “One Texas bishop, Joseph Strickland, refused to acknowledge Biden as the president-elect and addressed a December rally in Washington, D.C., that was widely seen as a precursor to the violence on January 6. Another bishop tweeted a call for all Christians to pray ‘in conjunction with the filing of election-related documents at the Supreme Court.’”

Joyce continues, “More esoterically, beginning in November, a Colorado priest in Denver led a months-long series of prayers to ‘bind’ evil spirits that were attempting to steal the election. And on January 6, another priest traveled from Nebraska to perform an exorcism on the U.S. Capitol after watching YouTube videos from a popular Catholic Right author who charged that a demonic spirit was trying to ‘dissolve’ the United States and remake it into something new.”

One of the major factors in this anti-Biden animosity among some Catholics is the abortion issue. Biden has made it clear that he opposes overturning Roe v. Wade. Nonetheless, Biden’s history on abortion could be described as “pro-choice but anti-abortion.” Biden, essentially, has echoed President Bill Clinton’s declaration that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.”

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