President Biden as a Scandal to the Faith

By Jayd Henricks

Last week Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois posted a statement regarding the scandal of President Biden, our Catholic president, who espouses positions in direct contradiction to the Catholic faith while simultaneously publicly evoking the Catholic faith. Bishop Paprocki followed up with a video interview to further elaborate upon his original statement.

In the interview, Bishop Paprocki explains why he is speaking up at this point: because Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, DC and President Biden’s Ordinary, himself spoke to the issue, describing President Biden as a “cafeteria Catholic” on national media. Bishop Paprocki acknowledged that not just the faithful in the pews but bishops themselves were waiting on some statement from Cardinal Gregory.

That statement has come and, while not as specific as Bishop Paprocki’s, nonetheless provides guidance for bishops from around the country to address the situation. President Biden is a scandal for the Catholic Church and it is fitting for her to respond to this reality.

It should be noted that Bishop Paprocki is both a canon and civil lawyer, which is evident in his very carefully crafted comments. Bishop Paprocki is also the chair of the Committee for Canonical Affairs and Church Governance for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which gives his comments added authority. This is his second term as chair, which is a very unusual occurrence for a USCCB committee. This suggests his brother bishops have strong confidence in his competency with Church law. He is not just another bishop expressing dissatisfaction. He is a trained lawyer who was elected by his brother bishops, twice, to address matters of Church law. His judgement cannot be easily dismissed.

It should also be noted that Bishop Paprocki does not suggest whom to vote for. In the interview he recommended being well informed about the candidates, while also noting that writing in a candidate or not voting for a particular office are also legitimate options. Telling the faithful whom to vote for is not the appropriate task of a bishop. It is, however, appropriate for a bishop to clarify what the Church teaches when the Catholic President of the United States espouses and advances policies that are in direct conflict with our professed faith and makes the Sign of the Cross in his defense of killing innocent human life. Again, this is a scandal or, as Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain said, this use of the Sign of the Cross is sacrilegious. It is good to have a bishop from another country recognize the obvious, but it would be better if more American bishops did so.

What we need now is for more bishops to follow the examples of Cardinal Gregory and Bishop Paprocki. The faith is not to be mocked (see Galatians 6:7). When it is, it becomes incumbent upon the bishops of the Church, who share in a unique way the prophetic office of Christ, to correct the error for the good of the faithful and for the good of the person who is in error. This is not a political response but a response of a pastor for the good of all. To be silent, one could argue, is to be complicit.

The Church is not a political body, and it should not act as one. Nonetheless there are questions of faith that enter the political arena and therefore require the engagement of the Church, so that the Gospel might be proclaimed with clarity and love for the sake of justice. Such is the case with President Biden. His public proclamation of his Catholic faith, while simultaneously advocating for things that in no way can be accepted as a Catholic, demands a public response from the Church.

Bishop Paprocki outlines three dangers for someone who holds beliefs that are contrary to the faith: heresy, apostasy, and schism. These are scary words, and yet they need to be said because the reality is scary. Yes, all people are welcome to the faith—but not all are in communion. The more honest among us will accept the fact that they believe something other than the fullness of the faith. For those who publicly persist in error but continue to identify as Catholic, there is a point when the Church should recognize the situation and declare that person not in communion (excommunication), especially if it creates public scandal. This is charitable to the person, so he or she might better understand the gravity of the situation, and to the faithful, who are confused and/or scandalized by the situation.

By scandal I do not mean simply personally offended. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines scandal as “an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense” (CCC #2284). The Catechism goes on to say that “scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others” (CCC #2285). Finally, “anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged” (CCC #2287). The Catechism quotes Matthew 18:6 when it says it would be better for a person to have a millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned than to be the cause of serious scandal.

President Biden leaves St. Joseph’s in Wilmington, DE // Credit: CWR

If we take the Catechism seriously—and every Catholic should—then it is clear the scandal caused by President Biden is eternally dangerous for him and for those who are influenced by him (which is surely a significant percentage of poorly formed Catholics, not to mention Americans generally and the global population).

Whether or not President Biden has automatically excommunicated himself seems to be an easy question to answer (see Canon 1364 §1; see also Cardinal Ratzinger’s commentary on political life here and here), and yet to formally and publicly excommunicate the President is fraught with pastoral consequences that must be taken into consideration. We now find ourselves in an election year, when any ecclesial action taken against President Biden could be construed as political. This is a problem the Church has made for herself by not acting sooner. In some respects, the lack of action for many years has created an exponentially more challenging situation. I have written about this previously and the problem has not gone away.

President Biden now has an almost four-year presidential track record on matters that approach the heart of Catholic social teaching. This scandal is an opportunity for bishops to provide a prophetic voice for the faithful that has been lacking for too long. This need not mean formal, public excommunication. As Bishop Paprocki noted, that is the responsibility of Cardinal Gregory, who has implied he will not take such action. Nonetheless, bishops can speak to the scandal of President Biden as a way to teach the faith and make it clear that the President is not a Catholic in good standing. They can publicly declare the President should stop using his faith for political purposes, as Cardinal Gregory accused President Biden of doing.

Pope Benedict XVI said in an address to German parliament back in 2011, “To serve right and to fight against the dominion of wrong is and remains the fundamental task of the politician.” And yet how far has our political leadership drifted from this attainable ideal? This is a question not just for the secular left, who have rejected the notion that there is a transcendent truth to which civil law should conform, but also the new right, which pursues power for the sake of a perceived good while undermining its moral credibility by rejecting charity as a mode of governance.

Where we go from here as a political order is anyone’s guess, but if the Church does not exercise her prophetic voice, then the path leads only deeper into the darkness. The Church, and all people of faith, must regain their footing as witnesses to the truth that secures peace. As Pope Benedict said in that same address, “In history, systems of law have almost always been based on religion: decisions regarding what was to be lawful among men were taken with reference to the divinity. Unlike other great religions, Christianity has never proposed a revealed law to the State and to society, that is to say a juridical order derived from revelation. Instead, it has pointed to nature and reason as the true sources of law – and to the harmony of objective and subjective reason, which naturally presupposes that both spheres are rooted in the creative reason of God.”

This is why the question of President Biden is so important not just for the Catholic Church but for the common good. When religion is mocked, it can easily lose its social standing to influence, especially when mocked by the leader of that social order. And yet this is what we have with President Biden. By his policies and his actions, he mocks religion, and in particular he mocks the faith he proclaims to hold by using it for political purposes.

Let us hope that his very transparent rejection of the Catholic faith is reason for more bishops to follow the lead of Cardinal Gregory and Bishop Paprocki, calling President Biden an inconsistent and disingenuous Catholic who has separated himself from the Church. Let us also hope that private conversations are active between President Biden and Cardinal Gregory, wherein His Eminence challenges the President to repent and convert. And let us hope for President Biden’s repentance and acceptance of all the Church’s teachings.

It is easy for the faithful to despair when public figures are allowed to mock the faith without consequence. The fact that, according to the Diocese of Springfield, the response to Bishop Paprocki’s statement has been overwhelmingly positive, will hopefully encourage other bishops to also speak up. The faithful should charitably encourage their bishops to be courageous, prophetic voices in this time of profound public confusion. We should also pray and fast that wisdom and courage from the Holy Spirit be given to bishops and priests, who are entrusted with the sacred task of leading the Church in their unique ministry for the good of the Church, which is the good of all. In the destructive political environment we face, we need this now more than ever.

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Jayd Henricks is the President of Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal. He served at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for eleven years and holds a STL in systematic theology from the Dominican House of Studies. He has written extensively on the Church in America.