United States | Biden and the bishops

American bishops want to deny Joe Biden Catholic holy communion

If that leads to a smaller church, some would not mind

Wafer waiver
|NEW YORK

WHILE CAMPAIGNING in South Carolina in October 2019, Joe Biden went to mass, as he does every Sunday. But he was not allowed to receive holy communion at St Anthony’s Catholic church. Father Robert Morey later explained that he had to refuse Mr Biden: “Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of church teaching.”

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Biden and the bishops”

Power and paranoia: The Chinese Communist Party at 100

From the June 26th 2021 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from United States

American actor Jean Stapleton (right) points a toy gun with a flag that reads, 'Bang,' at American actor Carroll O'Connor, in a still from the television series 'All in the Family'.

Checks and Balance newsletter: What 1970s television reveals about America

Police officers at the scene of a crime in Brooklyn, New York

An alternative theory to explain America’s murder spike in 2020

What if it wasn’t about policing?


Cartoon of Donald Trump, wearing a feathered headdress, a cowboy hat, and a police hat, holding a globe with pins and a needle

Donald Trump’s defining decade

Will America’s president overcome the 1970s, or just refight its battles?


Donald Trump revives ideas of a Star Wars-like missile shield 

He wants a swarm of missile-toting satellites to take out incoming threats

America’s foreign aid pause puts lives at risk

Donald Trump sought disruption. He hurt America first.

Donald Trump goes to war with his employees

The president wants to shrink and remake the civil service