OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The President of the United States is set to meet with the pope and that is normally a major deal that people want to see.
But the Vatican has now, with no explanation, canceled a live broadcast of the meeting, The Washington Post reported.
The Vatican press office provided no explanation for why the live broadcast of Biden’s visit had been trimmed to cover just the arrival of the president’s motorcade in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, where a Vatican monsignor will greet him.
Cancelled was any live coverage of Biden actually greeting Francis in the palace Throne Room, as well as the live footage of the two men sitting down to begin their private talks in Francis’ library, at which time the cameras normally would have stopped running.
The Vatican said it would provide edited footage of the encounter after the fact to accredited media.
Biden, the second Catholic U.S. president, has met Francis three previous times, but this will be his first as president.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been asked about the limited media access to Biden’s audience with the pope, which has now become more limited.
“What I can assure you of is that we are working through every lever we have to advocate for access for the press pool and for press when the president visits the Vatican. We believe in the value of the free press. We believe in the value of ensuring you have access to the president’s trips and his visits overseas,” she said to reporters on Thursday.
“We are going on a visit. It is not a host here, so I can’t offer you a guarantee, but I can guarantee you we will continue to advocate,” the press secretary said.
The audience was being closely monitored since U.S. bishops are due to meet in a few weeks for their annual fall convention, with one of the agenda items inspired by conservatives who contend that Biden’s support for abortion rights should disqualify him from receiving Communion.
Pope Francis has called abortion “murder” but has said the United States bishops should not get involved in politics.
But the Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States ignored a warning from the Vatican, and went ahead and supported guidance on the sacrament of the Eucharist that would deny Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and other pro-abortion Democrats the sacrament, The New York Times reported.
The Eucharist, or holy communion, is one of the most sacred rituals in Christianity, and bishops have grown worried in recent years about declining Mass attendance and misunderstanding of the importance of the sacrament to Catholic life.
But the move to target a president, who regularly attends Mass and has spent a lifetime steeped in Christian rituals and practices, is striking coming from leaders of the president’s own faith, particularly after many conservative Catholics turned a blind eye to the sexual improprieties of former President Donald J. Trump because they supported his political agenda. It reveals a uniquely American Catholicism increasingly at odds with Rome and Pope Francis.
The Times did not note the fact that Donald Trump is not a Catholic and the Catholic Church would not have any recourse to do anything to him if it disagreed with anything he did or said.
Biden was asked about the vote by the Catholic Church and dismissed it as something he does not believe is going to happen.
“That’s a private matter and I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said.
On, the day before the Bishop’s votes were reported,. House Speaker and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi reaffirmed her support for Roe V Wade, the landmark decision that gave women the right to abort unborn babies.
“The Supreme Court this fall will review a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being?” a reporter from CNS News said to the Speaker at her weekly press conference.
Reporter asks Nancy Pelosi, "Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being?"
Pelosi: "Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I am a mother of five children in six years. I think I have some standing on this issue as to respecting a woman's right to choose." pic.twitter.com/JnCX67Cfk3
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 17, 2021
“Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I am a mother of five children in six years. I think I have some standing on this issue as to respecting a woman’s right to choose,” she said.
