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Joe Biden Denied Communion Over Pro-Choice Stance






Because of his pro-choice abortion stance, Former Vice President Joe Biden was denied Holy Communion on Sunday in Florence, South Carolina, Saint Anthony Catholic Church confirmed.

"Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden," Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church confirmed to the Morning News in an email. "Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other, and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching."
In South Carolina campaigning, Biden attended the 9 a.m. ET Mass on Sunday and was turned away, per the report.

"I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers," Morey told the paper.

Communion is the Catholic ritual of receiving a wafer and wine. In order to receive it, "a Catholic must be in the state of grace, have gone to confession since his or her most recent mortal sin, have a belief in the doctrine of transubstantiation (a belief that the wafer and wine become the body and blood of Jesus), observe the Eucharistic fast, and not be under censure," according to Catholic doctrine.

Biden had stated at a debate in 2012 he personally opposed abortion but would not impose that belief on others, per the report.

He has also supported codifying the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which has been precedent for allowing a pregnant women to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.

With regard to the 1976 Hyde Amendment, which prevents federally funded abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or the mother's life at risk, Biden had supported it before infamously backing off this June.
The Catholic Church calls for respect and protection of human life at conception.

And, explaining Canon Law 915 to the reception of Holy Communion, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote a memorandum to the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2004, according to the Catholic News Agency:

"The minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone, such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin.
"His Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church's teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist."

John F. Kennedy is the only Catholic to serve as president and Biden is the only leading Democratic presidential candidate who is Catholic.