MSN.com By Sarah Pulliam Bailey Tues. Oct. 29, 2019
Former vice president Joe Biden was reportedly denied Communion on Sunday morning at a church in Florence, S.C., where he was making a campaign stop.
Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church, told a local newspaper that Biden, who is running in the 2020 presidential election, attended his church’s 9 a.m. Mass and denied him Communion because of the Democratic candidate’s political stance on abortion.
“Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that,” Morey said in a statement to the Morning News. “Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”
Morey did not immediately return a phone call and email request for comment on Tuesday.
The Catholic Church opposes abortion, but local priests and bishops in the United States have varying policies around whether to give Communion to someone who supports an issue like abortion rights.
This is not the first time Biden has been barred from receiving Communion over his stance on abortion rights. Biden was baptized and spent his early years in Scranton, Pa., where the bishop there had reportedly barred him from receiving communion.
Publicly, Biden has a complicated relationship with Catholic leaders. After he announced his run in 2008, several U.S. bishops insisted he should be refused Communion in their diocese.
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