Another Catholic bishop has called Joe Biden to task after he falsely claimed the Catholic Church doesn’t oppose taxpayer-funded abortions.
Biden lied to a Catholic reporter on Monday and falsely claimed the nation’s Catholic bishops do not oppose forcing Americans to fund abortions even though the Catholic Church has a longstanding pro-life position against tax-funded abortions.
During questioning about the federal budget, Biden responded to a question from EWTN White House correspondent Owen Jensen. The pro-life reporter could barely get his question out before Biden cut him off:
Q Catholic bishops are demanding that federal tax dollars not fund abortions.
BIDEN: No, they are not all doing that. Nor is —
Q Catholic bishops are —
BIDEN: Nor is —
Q — demanding that federal tax —
BIDEN: Nor is the Pope doing that.
Yesterday, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released a statement confirming Biden is wrong and that the nation’s Catholic bishops do oppose taxpayer funding of abortions.
SUPPORT LIFENEWS! To help us stand against Joe Biden’s abortion agenda, please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
“As we are taught by Jesus, human life is sacred. God calls us to defend and nurture life from the moment a new human being is conceived. The Catholic Church has been clear and consistent in this teaching,” Broglio said. “The Catholic bishops of the United States are united in our commitment to life and will continue to work as one body in Christ to make abortion unthinkable.”
“Taxpayer funding of abortion would force people of good conscience to participate in this grave evil against their will,” he said.
“It would contradict our right to live in accord with the tenets of our faith. Our nation is better than that,” he continued. “I pray that we will protect every child no matter his or her age, and open our hearts to respond to mothers in need with love and support rather than the violence of abortion.”
Broglio is the second Catholic bishop to take Biden to task.
Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler, Texas condemned Biden’s comments and said he was engaging in “fake Catholicism.”
“Mr. Biden can’t be allowed to twist the words of Pope Francis in this way,” Strickland tweeted. “I implore the Vatican press office to emphatically clarify that Pope Francis rightly calls abortion murder. It is time to denounce Biden’s fake Catholicism.”
On Friday, the nation’s Catholic bishops released a statement supporting a bill to permanently ban taxpayer funded abortions.
Earlier today, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities sent a letter to House and Senate sponsors of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act” (H.R.7 and S.62), in support of the legislation.
“Protecting taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortion in violation of their conscience is a principle that has enjoyed historically broad support among Americans, regardless of their otherwise passionately divided views on the topic. It has also been life-saving,” said Bishop Burbidge in his letter. Rather than funding abortion, he continued, “Congress can better serve the common good by prioritizing policies that comprehensively assist women, children, and families in need in ways that will not only encourage childbirth but make it easier to welcome and raise a new child.”
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which has also been supported by the USCCB in previous sessions of Congress, would make long-standing prohibitions on federal funding of elective abortion permanent and government-wide, rather than having to depend on various appropriations, which can put these funding protections or other programs for those in need at risk.