José Horacio Gomez, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a strong denunciation of President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion, marriage, and gender.
Gomez, the archbishop of Los Angeles, offered prayers for the new president and his family on Inauguration Day.
“I am praying that God grant him wisdom and courage to lead this great nation and that God help him to meet the tests of these times, to heal the wounds caused by this pandemic, to ease our intense political and cultural divisions, and to bring people together with renewed dedication to America’s founding purposes, to be one nation under God committed to liberty and equality for all,” Gomez said in a statement.
The USCCB president emphasized that “Catholic bishops are not partisan players in our nation’s politics,” but are “responsible for the souls of millions of Americans and we are advocates for the needs of all our neighbors.”
Gomez noted that bishops must try to “guide consciences” by offering principles that are “rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the social teachings of his Church.”
“I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender,” Gomez criticized Biden. “Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences.”
“For the nation’s bishops, the continued injustice of abortion remains the ‘preeminent priority,'” the archbishop pointed out. “As Pope Francis teaches, we cannot stay silent when nearly a million unborn lives are being cast aside in our country year after year through abortion.
“Abortion is a direct attack on life that also wounds the woman and undermines the family,” Gomez explained. “It is not only a private matter, it raises troubling and fundamental questions of fraternity, solidarity, and inclusion in the human community. It is also a matter of social justice. We cannot ignore the reality that abortion rates are much higher among the poor and minorities, and that the procedure is regularly used to eliminate children who would be born with disabilities.”
Gomez concluded his statement, “We are all under the watchful eye of God, who alone knows and can judge the intentions of our hearts. I pray that God will give our new President, and all of us, the grace to seek the common good with all sincerity.”
Despite being a practicing Catholic, President Biden has shown support for pro-abortion policies. The Biden administration wants to repeal the Hyde Amendment and will rescind the Mexico City policy that former President Donald Trump brought back to life in January 2017.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, said Thursday that the new administration would rescind the Mexico City policy, which bans federal funding of foreign nongovernmental organizations that promote or perform abortions.
Fauci delivered a statement to the World Health Organization’s executive board that said the Biden administration is overturning the Mexico City policy “as part of his broader commitment to protect women’s health and advance gender equality at home and around the world.”
Biden has turned his back on supporting the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used to pay for abortions, except to save the life of a woman, or in pregnancies from incest or rape.
For decades, Biden supported the Hyde Amendment, but he flipped on the issue during the 2020 Democratic primary campaign. The official Biden campaign website says, “Vice President Biden supports repealing the Hyde Amendment because health care is a right that should not be dependent on one’s zip code or income. And, the public option will cover contraception and a woman’s constitutional right under Roe v. Wade.”
President Biden selected Xavier Becerra to be his secretary of Health and Human Services. Becerra previously sued the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor, for refusing to accept the Obamacare contraception mandate.
“Becerra spent years tormenting the Little Sisters of the Poor in court, trying to force them to pay for things like abortion pills against their consciences. He also led efforts to force pro-life pregnancy resource centers to advertise for abortion,” said Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at the Catholic Association.