What is the Catholic Communion controversy?
"It's quite clear that for a lot of the bishops, a lot of the impact is political," said William Cavanaugh, professor of Catholic studies at DePaul University in Chicago. "You have some of them saying this is not about Joe Biden, but in the comments the bishops made in that Zoom session, a lot of them mentioned Biden and gave the game away." Biden is the nation's second Catholic president and the first to assume office since abortion became a major political issue. He supports the legality of abortion, while Catholic bishops have long made its abolition a foremost policy goal. The issue is particularly salient with Biden because he has long been very public in his devotion, fluently speaking the language of faith and regularly attending Mass even on busy days like his own inauguration and the recent G-7 summit in Britain. "That's a private matter, and I don't think that's going to happen," the president said when asked at the White House on Friday. Sixty Catholic Democrats in Congress signed a letter to the bishops saying: "We solemnly urge you to not move forward and deny this most holy of all sacraments, the source and the summit of the whole work of the gospel over one issue."