• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States as his wife, Jill Biden, holds a Bible on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Jan. 20, 2021. (CNS photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

Second Catholic president causes some to celebrate, gives others anxiety

January 20, 2021
By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: 2020 Election, Feature, News, Respect Life, Vatican, World News

New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Donald Trump, then the Republicans’ nominee for U.S. president, smile during the 71st annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City Oct. 20, 2016. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Joe Biden became the second Catholic to be inaugurated as president of the United States Jan. 20, giving some U.S. Catholics and their religious leaders a reason to rejoice and others to fear more access to abortion under his leadership.

As Biden placed his hand on the Bible and was sworn in as the 46th president of the U.S., Marie Yanulus Calderoni, a Catholic from Spring Township, Pennsylvania, said a prayer for the 78-year-old Delaware resident as he assumed the responsibility of the nation’s highest office.

He becomes president at a time when the country is enduring a deadly pandemic, profound polarization, racial divisions and financial uncertainty.

For as pleased as Calderoni — a 60-year-old parishioner of St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church in Reading, Pennsylvania — is to see a fellow Catholic in the White House, she remains troubled by his support of legal abortion.

Many Catholics across the U.S. share her conflicted enthusiasm and Biden received barely half the Catholic vote in the 2020 election.

New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, who read a Scripture passage at President Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, wrote in a recent column for Catholic New York — the archdiocesan newspaper — that Biden “speaks with admirable sensitivity about protecting the rights of the weakest and most threatened,” but added the new president “ran on a platform avidly supporting this gruesome capital punishment for innocent preborn babies.”

Emphasizing the rights of the unborn are equal to other human rights, he quoted Pope Francis: “We defend and promote all legitimate human rights. But what use are they if the right of the baby to be born is violated?”

Though many Catholics are celebrating Biden’s rise to the presidency, many U.S. Catholics are fuming over it, mostly because of his support for legal abortion and same-sex marriage, both sins according to church teaching.

Social media is rife with posts from Catholics offended that Biden identifies himself as a Catholic, with some American priests telling parishioners during the 2020 presidential campaign that it would be a sin to vote for him.

A denouncement of Biden’s Catholicism only creates more divisiveness, said Oblate Father Kevin Nadolski, vice president for mission and a professor of education at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

Catholic scholars argue all humans are flawed and Vatican leaders frequently confirm that anyone who is baptized Catholic is identified as Catholic, even if they have fallen away from the church.

“Even people who would be well disposed to the president find it difficult to (understand how) he can conjugate his stance on (the abortion) issue — which is so important to Catholics — and this faith that has been so important to him all of his life,” said Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey. “What I don’t understand are people who use very harsh words and want to cut off all communication with the president because of this.”

The U.S. bishops and popes have been in dialogue with all modern U.S. presidents, but it should be easier for Catholic leaders to convey their concerns to a Catholic president who understands the doctrines of the faith, Father Nadolski said.

“I’m very optimistic that our U.S. Catholic leaders — specifically our bishops — can work with President Biden, despite his present position as it relates to abortion,” he said. “Pope Francis has been crystal clear about the need for dialogue.”

Oblate Father Kevin Nadolski, vice president for mission and a professor of education at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa., poses for a photo in the Catholic college’s chapel Jan. 13, 2021. (CNS photo/Chaz Muth)

Biden faces an overwhelming agenda at this period of time and Catholics from the ranks of church leadership to those in the pews should offer their prayers to help guide him, Cardinal Tobin told Catholic News Service.

The inauguration should also be a moment of celebration among the faithful to see the second Catholic president take the oath of office, whether they supported his candidacy or didn’t, Father Nadolski told CNS.

It’s significant that only two of 46 presidents have been Catholic and some have expressed hope that Biden’s election means another prejudice has been overcome.

The U.S. electorate had been suspicious of Catholic presidential candidates throughout the 20th century, fearing they would be unduly influenced by the pope, a notion that President John F. Kennedy — the first Catholic to serve as president — rejected by proclaiming he would keep his faith life and role as public servant separate.

Though Cardinal Tobin doesn’t expect Biden to take orders from Pope Francis, he does anticipate he will employ the guiding principles of Catholic social teaching to usher him through the health and financial crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, healing the wounds following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, trying to unify the country amid political and racial divisions, and working for immigration solutions.

A man who often calls on his Catholic faith to guide him through the challenges of his life is uniquely suited to lead the U.S. in this turbulent era, said Father Nadolski, who is pleased Biden has signaled he will address the festering problem of institutional racism in the U.S.

“Pope Francis reminded us this summer that there is no way that anyone of us as Catholics can advance the dignity and sacredness of human life if we are in fact racist,” he said.

“Because of Joe Biden’s commitment to Catholic social teaching — both his sensitivity and sensibilities — I think it’s high time for us to have a very productive, proactive and Gospel-grounded conversation on race in our nation,” Father Nadolski said, “especially as we’re emerging from the past four years where there have been accusations and real questions around race in our nation in a way in which our leadership at the time has addressed them.”

Also see

Nine Catholics nominated to Cabinet-level jobs in Biden administration

Poet Amanda Gorman is a light to us all, parishioner says

USCCB president prays God grants Biden ‘wisdom, courage’ to lead nation

Biden’s inaugural address calls for Americans to work for unity

Pope prays Biden works to heal divisions, promote human dignity

Leaders of both parties join Biden, Harris for Mass of thanksgiving

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Chaz Muth

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history
  • Fire guts historic Catholic school in parish connected to St. John Neumann
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Suspect pleads not guilty in murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop O’Connell
  • Movie Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4, a festival of fatality’

| Latest Local News |

Catholic Charities’ William J. McCarthy Jr. named Loyola’s Business Leader of the Year

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

| Latest World News |

National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series

Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts

Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series
  • Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests
  • Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts
  • Praying for healing for our pet
  • Jérôme Lejeune’s legacy advances ‘abundant life’ for people with Down syndrome in world and church
  • Texas parishioners affected by Ukrainian war, a wildfire have relied on faith, community to survive turmoil
  • Pope, World Council of Churches’ leaders talk about war, divisions
  • Pre-Vatican II Mass was formed by ‘clericalization,’ says papal preacher
  • Memorial to modern Christian martyrs opens in Rome

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED