(CP) – Washington’s archbishop and soon-to-be cardinal Wilton Gregory said he will not refuse communion to President-elect Joe Biden despite Biden’s support for abortion.
Hoping for dialogue, Gregory said he wants to foster a relationship where “we can discover areas where we can cooperate that reflect the social teachings of the church, knowing full well that there are some areas where we won’t agree,” as reported by Catholic News Service.
His comments come as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has expressed concern over Biden’s abortion positions, including his vow to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law and use taxpayer money to pay for abortions. Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, president of USCCB, said at a virtual meeting this month that as they anticipate a transition to the nation’s second Catholic president, it presents “challenges” and “confusion” due to Biden’s abortion advocacy.
Hugh Brown, executive vice president of the American Life League, a Catholic pro-life group, told The Christian Post that “the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion is fairly simple: Life begins at the moment of creation and a child in the womb is created in the image of God.” “[Abortion is] obviously murder,” he stressed.
Catholics consider abortion a “grave sin,” Brown said. In Catholic theology, a grave sin means one that willingly breaks God’s law in a grievous manner with full knowledge of what the sin means. According to Catholic church law, people committing grave sins cannot take communion. READ MORE
