The top Roman Catholic official in Washington, D.C., said President Joe Biden "picks and chooses" elements of the faith to follow.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, lumped Biden with other "cafeteria Catholics."
"I could say that he's very sincere about his faith, but like a number of Catholics, he picks and chooses dimensions of the faith to highlight while ignoring or even contradicting other parts," Gregory said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "There is a phrase that we have used in the past, a 'cafeteria Catholic,' you choose that which is attractive and dismiss that which is challenging."
Biden, 81, is the second Catholic president in U.S. history. Former President John F. Kennedy was the first.
Asked by host Ed O'Keefe to list items Biden refuses to follow, Gregory cited failure to promote life.
"I would say there are things, especially in terms of the life issues, there are things that he chooses to ignore or he uses the current situation as a political pawn rather than saying, Look, my church believes this," Gregory said.
The cardinal later continued.
"He [Biden] does attend church regularly with great devotion. But he also steps aside some of the hot-button issues or uses the hot-button issues as a political tool, which it's not — it is not the way I think we would want our faith to be used," Gregory said.
"The issues of life begin at the very beginning and they conclude at natural death. And you can't pick and choose. You're either one who respects life, and all of its dimensions, or you have to step aside and say, I'm not pro-life, I'm in one side of the equation I feel that I could support this dimension of life, but in others, I would step aside."
In his recent State of the Union, Biden vowed to implement a Roe v. Wade-style national abortion rule if given the chance in a second term.
"If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you, I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again," Biden said.
Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationally before it was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022. The justices' decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization returned the issue to the states.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.