Bishop Joseph Strickland, former bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, told Newsmax on Friday that former President Joe Biden was not a good Catholic "by any real definition," calling Biden's public observance "more of a facade for him than a reality."
Strickland, removed from pastoral governance of the diocese by Pope Francis in November 2023, made the comments on "Finnerty."
Francis appointed Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin as apostolic administrator after the dismissal.
Asked whether Biden, the second Catholic to hold the presidency, was a good Catholic given his record on abortion and federal prosecutions of pro-life activists, Strickland said he was not.
He said Biden attended Mass but that the practice "seemed to just be part of the facade," adding that the former president "needs to really be called to the truth of the Catholic faith."
Strickland said he prays for Biden as a bishop of the church and characterized the issue as broader than a single politician, saying, "It's not unique to Joe Biden."
He said he is glad the Department of Justice is "calling this out" and described biases against Catholics and Christians as needing to be exposed.
His comments followed an April 14 report by the department's Weaponization Working Group, which alleged that DOJ under Biden selectively prosecuted pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, coordinated with groups that support abortion access, and sought harsher sentences for anti-abortion defendants than for those accused of attacks on pregnancy resource centers.
Biden's record on abortion is documented.
As a senator, he voted in 1982 for a constitutional amendment that would have allowed states to overturn Roe v. Wade, and then, in 2019, reversed his decades-long support of the Hyde Amendment.
As president, after the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision, he directed his administration to expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone and to protect abortion access.
Pope Francis described Biden's support for legal abortion as an "incoherence" in a July 2022 interview, saying he would leave the matter to Biden's "conscience" and that Biden should "talk to his pastor about that incoherence."
"We need to be aware of these biases that are there. And tragically, with a so-called Catholic president, he was anything but really," Strickland said.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.