乔·拜登 rarely misses Sunday Mass. So it was notable when the President-elect didn’t attend church on November 29, the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the season when Roman Catholics like Biden prepare for Christmas.
Biden’s absence was understandable, since just a day earlier he had broken his foot. But the following weekend, Biden was back at his home parish in Wilmington, 特拉华州 — 圣. Joseph on the Brandywine — for Saturday’s vigil Mass. He was there again on Tuesday on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation.
That’s a level of devotion to regular religious services not seen from recent presidents, who were professed Christians but intermittently attended church or worshipped privately while in office. Donald Trump has not had a habit of attending church services weekly, though he made several appearances at the Episcopal church in West Palm Beach near his resort as well as at various evangelical churches across the country.
Barack Obama would go to church for the occasional Christmas or Easter service in Washington or on vacation in Hawaii, but rarely during the rest of the year. And George W. 衬套, despite being a high-profile born-again Christian, tended to worship privately as president and only attended church when back home in Texas.
But for Biden, who next month will become the second Catholic president in US history, attending weekly Mass is expected to be a fixed part of his schedule. And while it’s unclear whether he will adopt a permanent parish in Washington during his term, Biden’s churchgoing will not only provide a window into his spiritual side. It will also be core to his political brand — apparent not just in the pursuit of his policy agenda but even in his schedule as President.
“For Joe, faith is both a private devotion — he prays regularly, he goes to church. But it’s also public. He’s open about and proud that he’s a Catholic,” said Fr. Kevin O’Brien, a friend and spiritual adviser to Biden and his wife Jill.
奥布赖恩, now the president of Santa Clara University in California, was heading up the campus ministry at Georgetown University when he met the Delaware senator more than a decade ago. Biden regularly went to Mass at Georgetown’s chapel or at nearby Holy Trinity parish when in Washington, a practice he continued during his eight years as vice president and which some around him say he’ll continue as president.
“Joe’s faith isn’t just part of who he is,” 说森. 克里斯·库恩斯, the Democrat from Delaware and a friend of Biden’s. “It’s foundational to who he is.”
Catholic culture
Catholicism is a way of life for Biden. He attended Catholic schools and married his first wife, Neilia, in a Catholic church. He peppers his political speech with quotes from Scripture, Catholic hymns and references to the nuns and priests he learned from in school. More so than any time before in his public life, Biden’s faith was woven into his political message during the 2020 运动. He fashioned himself as the candidate standing up for morality and decency, fighting for the soul of America and calling on the country to “embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do.”
But it’s much more than a cultural identity for the 78-year-old President-elect. Since childhood, Biden has been a regular at Mass. He frequently worships with family members, often attending with some of his grandchildren in tow.
Photos: 总统当选人拜登
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Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, 特拉华州, 在周五, 十一月 6. 第二天, he became President-elect.
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Biden carries his sons Beau, 剩下, and Hunter while attending a Democratic convention in Delaware in 1972. At center is his first wife, Neilia, and on the left are future Gov. Sherman W. Tribbitt and his wife, Jeanne. 拜登, a member of the New Castle County Council, was running for one of Delaware’s US Senate seats, and he won that November at the age of 29.
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Biden cuts a cake at his 30th birthday party in November 1972, shortly after winning the Senate election. A few weeks later, Neilia Biden died in a car accident while Christmas shopping. Their baby daughter, 直美, was also killed in the wreck. The two boys were badly injured, but they survived.
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Biden speaks with US President Jimmy Carter at a fundraising event in Delaware in 1978. Later that year, Biden was re-elected to the Senate. He kept getting re-elected until he resigned in 2009 and became Barack Obama’s vice president.
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Biden talks with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat after the signing of the Egyptian-Israel Peace Treaty in 1979.
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在 1987, Biden entered the 1988 总统竞选. But he dropped out three months later following reports of plagiarism and false claims about his academic record.
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二月里 1988, Biden had surgery to repair an aneurysm in an artery that supplies blood to the brain. 这里, he sits in his office after returning to work.
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拜登, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, laughs with students as he visits a high school in Kabul, 阿富汗, 在 2002.
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拜登, second from left, participates in a 2007 presidential debate with other Democratic candidates. With Biden, 从左起, are John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
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Biden signs his book “Promises to Keep” at the National Press Club in Washington, 直流电, 在 2007.
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Biden takes the vice president oath of office next to his second wife, 吉尔, 在一月 2009. Biden had to resign from the Senate, where he had held office since 1973.
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Biden and Obama put their arms around each other after Obama’s health care overhaul was passed in March 2009. It was the biggest expansion of health care guarantees in more than four decades, and it represented a significant step toward the goal of universal coverage, which had been sought by every Democratic President since Harry Truman.
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Biden sits with Obama and members of Obama’s national security team as they monitor the mission against Osama bin Laden 在五月 2011. (Editor’s note: The classified document in front of Hillary Clinton was obscured by the White House.)
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Biden speaks at the convention of Florida’s Democratic Party in October 2011. Biden said he and Obama had made progress on fixing problems they inherited from Republicans, but he said the GOP was using obstructionist tactics to keep the administration from doing more for the economy and middle class.
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Biden whistles to get someone’s attention as he stands with a high school marching band in Euclid, 俄亥俄, 十一月 2011.
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Obama and Biden laugh together as they attend a basketball game in July 2012.
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Biden speaks on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in September 2012.
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Biden talks to some bikers at a Seaman, 俄亥俄, diner in September 2012.
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Biden holds a baby during a campaign event in Eau Claire, 威斯康星州, 在九月 2012.
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Biden debates US Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate, in the run-up to the 2012 选举.
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Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One in November 2012.
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Biden makes a cameo in the TV show “Parks and Recreation” 在 2012. The show’s main character, played by Amy Poehler, touched Biden’s face and laughed awkwardly when they met.
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Biden listens to Obama speak about gun reform in December 2012. In the wake of a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Obama tapped Biden to lead an administration-wide effort against gun violence. 但 fierce resistance to new gun legislation thwarted nearly all of the administration’s plans.
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Biden hands a vote certificate to US Rep. Robert Brady as Congress officially counts the Electoral College votes in January 2013. Obama and Biden were elected to a second term in November 2012.
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Biden and his wife, 吉尔, dance during an inaugural ball in January 2013.
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Biden awards the Medal of Valor to William Reynolds, a battalion chief with the Virginia Beach Fire Department, during a ceremony in Washington, 直流电, 二月里 2013. Biden presented the award to public safety officers who had exhibited exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect others from harm.
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Biden gets ready to pay for an ice cream cone in Portland, 俄勒冈州, 在十月 2014. He was in Portland campaigning for US Sen. Jeff Merkley.
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Biden tours a dredging barge along the Delaware River in October 2014. During his visit, the vice president discussed the importance of investing in the nation’s infrastructure.
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Biden talks to Stephanie Carter as her husband, Ashton Carter, delivers a speech at the White House in February 2015. Ashton Carter had just been sworn in as the country’s new Secretary of Defense, but it was Biden’s hands-on whisper that went viral on social media.
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Biden wears his signature aviator sunglasses as he addresses graduating students at Yale University in May 2015.
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Biden pauses with his family as they enter a visitation for his son, 前特拉华州总检察长博·拜登, 在六月 2015. Biden’s eldest son 死于 46 after a battle with brain cancer.
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Biden and Obama share a light moment at the White House, where Obama spoke at a reception honoring Hispanic Heritage Month in October 2015.
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Biden points at Obama during Obama’s final State of the Union address in January 2016.
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Biden speaks on stage during the Academy Awards in February 2016. Before introducing Lady Gaga’s performance of “Til It Happens to You,” Biden encouraged Americans to take action against sexual assault on college campuses. “Let’s change the culture,” 拜登说. “We must, and we can.”
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Biden waves to the crowd before speaking at the 民主国民大会 在七月 2016.
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Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets Biden on an airport tarmac in Avoca, 宾夕法尼亚州, 在八月 2016. Watch CNN’s Jeanne Moos on the “endless embrace”
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拜登 greets Ruth Bonner, a 99-year-old daughter of a young slave who escaped to freedom, as he and his wife attend the September 2016 opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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Biden shakes hands with his successor, 迈克·彭斯, 后 they had lunch in Washington, 直流电, 十一月 2016.
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Biden wipes away tears as Obama surprises him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom 在一月 2017. “For your faith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country and for your lifetime of service that will endure through the generations, I’d like to ask the military aide to join us on stage,” Obama said in the ceremony. “For my final time as President, I am pleased to award our nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
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Biden poses for a photo with a dog named Biden as he greets a crowd on Capitol Hill in March 2017.
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Biden speaks at a fundraising dinner for New Hampshire Democrats in April 2017. 拜登, who advisers said was nowhere near making a decision on whether to run for president in 2020, addressed the question head-on. “Guys, I’m not running!” he said with a smile, as the audience in the hotel ballroom booed in response.
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Biden tosses his jacket off stage as he begins to speak at a rally in Pittsburgh in April 2019. Days earlier, he announced that he would be running for president for a third time.
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Biden is confronted by US Sen. Kamala Harris during the first Democratic debates in June 2019. 哈里斯 went after Biden over his early-career opposition to federally mandated busing. “I did not oppose busing in America,” Biden told Harris. “What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education.”
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Biden takes a selfie with supporters in Detroit after CNN’s Democratic debates in July 2019.
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Biden is questioned about his son Hunter during a campaign stop in New Hampton, 爱荷华州, 在十二月 2019. Biden grew visibly frustrated with the man, 称他为 “damn liar” after the man accused Biden of sending his son to Ukraine “to get a job and work for a gas company, that he had no experience with gas, nothing.” Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president. He said recently he used “poor judgment” in serving on the board of the company while his father was pushing anti-corruption measures in Ukraine on behalf of the US government, but he added that he didn’t do anything improper. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.
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Biden speaks with Jacquelyn Brittany, a security guard at The New York Times, 在十二月 2019. Brittany was escorting Biden to a Times editorial board meeting when she said: “我爱你. I do. You’re like my favorite.” The exchange was aired as part of the Times’ TV series “The Weekly,” and was circulated on social media. 在八月 2020, Brittany gave the first speech officially nominating Biden for president at the Democratic National Convention. “I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time,” Brittany said. “When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me, I just head back to the lobby. But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me. That he actually cared, that my life meant something to him. And I knew even when he went into his important meeting, he’d take my story in there with him.” 拜登 responded on Twitter: “Jacquelyn: Your nomination means the world to me. Thank you — and I hope you know: we love you back.”
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Biden speaks at a caucus-night rally in Des Moines, 爱荷华州, 二月里 2020. He finished a disappointing fourth.
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Biden rallied from early setbacks in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, winning the South Carolina primary 二月里 2020. “Just days ago, the press and pundits had declared this candidacy dead,” Biden said in his speech to supporters. “Because of you, the heart of the Democratic Party, we just won and we won big because of you. We are very much alive.”
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Biden puts his hands on the shoulders of Pete Buttigieg as Buttigieg endorses him for president 三月 2020. 布蒂吉格, the former mayor of South Bend, 印第安那州, had just dropped out of the Democratic race.
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Biden’s wife, 吉尔, blocks a protester who charged the stage during his Super Tuesday speech in Los Angeles in March 2020. The protester was holding a sign that said “Let dairy die.”
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Biden and US Sen. Kamala Harris greet each other at a Detroit high school as they attend a “Get Out the Vote” event in March 2020. Harris had dropped out of the presidential race a few months earlier.
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Biden has a testy exchange about gun rights as he tours a Fiat Chrysler assembly plant in Detroit in March 2020. A man confronted Biden and accused the former vice president of trying to “take away our guns.” 拜登回应, “You’re full of s***” and tried to clarify his policies, saying he supports the Second Amendment.
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Biden greets US Sen. Bernie Sanders with an elbow bump before the start of their one-on-one debate 在华盛顿, 直流电, 三月 2020. The two Democrats went with an elbow bump instead of a handshake because of the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders ended his presidential campaign the following month, clearing Biden’s path to the Democratic nomination.
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在五月 2020, 拜登 denied a former aide’s claims that he sexually assaulted her 27 几年前. “This never happened,” Biden said of Tara Reade’s allegation. In an interview with MSNBC, Biden said he did not know why Reade was now making the allegation.
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On Memorial Day, the Bidens lay a wreath at the Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, 特拉华州. In a CNN interview, Biden called President Donald Trump “an absolute fool” for sharing a tweet that mocked him for wearing a mask.
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Biden touches his face while speaking at a church in Wilmington, 特拉华州, 在六月 2020. As he spoke with African-American leaders, 拜登 pledged to take steps to combat institutional racism and re-establish a police oversight body at the Justice Department.
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People are socially distanced from one another as Biden speaks in Darby, 宾夕法尼亚州, 在六月 2020.
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Biden holds handwritten notes that reference US Sen. Kamala Harris in July 2020. The talking points fueled fresh speculation about Harris’ standing as a possible running mate.
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Biden calls Harris from his Delaware home to inform her that she was his choice for vice president.
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Biden and Harris walk out for their first campaign event as a presidential ticket.
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拜登 accepts the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination during a speech at the Democratic National Convention. “This campaign isn’t just about winning votes,” 拜登说. “It is about winning the heart and, 是, the soul of America.”
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Biden joins hands with Harris after the 民主国民大会 在八月 2020. They are joined on stage by Biden’s wife, 吉尔, and Harris’ 丈夫, 道格拉斯·埃姆霍夫（Douglas Emhoff）.
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Biden meets with members of the community while visiting a church in Kenosha, 威斯康星州, 在九月 2020. A police shooting caught on video had sparked protests in Kenosha, a city on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee. Demonstrators torched cars and set buildings ablaze, demanding justice in the shooting of Jacob Blake.
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Biden speaks to supporters from a distance after meeting with labor leaders in Lancaster, 宾夕法尼亚州, 在九月 2020. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Biden has taken a careful approach to campaigning.
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Biden greets Vice President Mike Pence as they attend a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.
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Biden speaks to reporters before boarding his campaign plane in Duluth, 明尼苏达州, 在九月 2020.
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People sitting in social-distancing circles are reflected in Biden’s sunglasses as he speaks in Charlotte, 北卡罗来纳.
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Biden takes part in the first presidential debate 在九月 2020. At center is moderator Chris Wallace, who had his hands full as the debate often devolved into shouting, rancor and cross talk that sometimes made it impossible to follow what either candidate was talking about.
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Biden is reminded by his wife, 吉尔, to maintain proper social distancing as he speaks to reporters at an airport in Miami in October 2020.
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Biden sits across from ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos before the start of his town-hall event in Philadelphia in October 2020. Biden and Trump held separate town halls instead of debating each other in a town-hall format. The schedule change came about after Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus. The Commission on Presidential Debates proposed a virtual debate, but Trump refused to take part and Biden went ahead with plans for his own town hall. Trump’s campaign later arranged its own town hall — on a different network, during the same hour.
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Biden speaks during his debate with Trump in October 2020. 因为 their first debate quickly descended into a glorified shouting match, the Commission on Presidential Debates instituted an unprecedented change this time around: The candidates had their microphones cut off while their opponent responded to the first question of each of the debate’s six segments.
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Biden and his wife, 吉尔, wave after they voted in Wilmington, 特拉华州, 在十月 2020.
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Biden is joined by his running mate, US Sen. 卡马拉·哈里斯, after Election Day came and went without a winner. “After a long night of counting, it’s clear that we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” Biden told supporters at a drive-in rally in Wilmington, 特拉华州. “I’m not here to declare that we have won. But I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”
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Biden’s wife, 吉尔, tweeted this photo after her husband was projected as the winner of the presidential race. “He will be a President for all of our families,” 她说.
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Biden is embraced by family members in this photo that was tweeted by his granddaughter Naomi. It was captioned “11.07.20” — the date the race was called.
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Biden and Harris are joined by their spouses after Biden gave a victory speech in Wilmington, 特拉华州, 十一月 2020.
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While touring across the country in his presidential campaign, Biden would quietly slip into a local Catholic church for Mass — often coming in a few minutes late or leaving a few minutes early, to avoid the rush. He was even spotted attending daily Mass on Election Day at his parish in Wilmington, 特拉华州.
On the day Biden was inaugurated as Vice President in 2009, he asked O’Brien to preside over a private Mass at Georgetown beforehand. Four years later, O’Brien held another Mass before the second inauguration, this time at the Vice President’s residence. (O’Brien told CNN he is unaware of any plans yet for another private Mass before Biden’s inauguration as President.)
These services, said the priest, reflected how important the Catholic faith and ritual were to Biden, particularly on two of the most joyful days of his life. But his faith in Christ and devotion to the church also bolstered Biden during his lowest moments.
The most well-known of those were the deaths of Neilia and his daughter Naomi in a car crash and, decades later, the death of his son Beau from cancer. The President-elect, who regularly wears his late son’s rosary on his wrist, has publicly spoken about the role his faith has played in carrying him through grief.
“I’m not trying to proselytize, I’m not trying to convince you to be, to share my religious views. But for me it’s important because it gives me some reason to have hope and purpose,” Biden shared earlier this year during a CNN town hall with a grieving pastor who’d lost his wife during the Charleston shooting, explaining that he’d promised his own dying son that he would continue to stay engaged and not retreat into himself.
A Catholic in the White House
On the eve of John F. Kennedy’s election in 1960, there was still a debate about whether Catholic elected officials might take their directions from Rome and the Pope instead of the US Constitution.
自那时候起, Catholics have become integrated into American public life to the point where Biden’s religious affiliation is just another point in his biography. The last three Speakers of the House have been Catholics, and so are the majority of justices on the Supreme Court. Biden was the first Catholic to serve as vice president.
And despite American Catholics initially finding a home in the Democratic Party, they’re now a diverse group politically, especially as the Republican Party has embraced positions on several social issues in line with the church’s teachings. CNN’s exit polls showed Catholics were nearly evenly split, 与 52% supporting Biden and 47% supporting Trump. That’s an improvement for Biden over Hillary Clinton’s performance with Catholics four years ago, when she lost them to Trump 50% 至 46%.
Among conservative Catholics in Washington, Biden’s election has been greeted with caution and suspicion. His support for abortion rights and the Obama administration’s legal fights with Catholic non-profits over providing contraception coverage loom large.
Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at the conservative Catholic Association, said it will be difficult to separate Biden’s liberalism on abortion and contraception from how he’s viewed by Catholics — especially because of how his campaign emphasized his faith.
“It just sort of highlights even more where he is at odds with the church,” said McGuire.
She added that she views Biden’s selection of Xavier Becerra for secretary of Health and Human Services as a direct shot at Catholics. As California’s attorney general, Becerra sued the Little Sisters of the Poor after the Catholic social-services organization won their lawsuit to be granted an exception to the Obama-era HHS mandate that health-insurance coverage include contraceptives.
“The issues where people have been the most divided and where the political left and the political right, and Catholics, have been so split are the issues where that department is going to be involved,” McGuire said. “It was his move, and he sort of set a tone that suggests attack. And that’s unfortunate.”
Pope Francis greets then-Vice President Joe Biden, 中央, and Speaker John Boehner, 俄亥俄州, in the House chamber of the US Capitol before he addressed a joint meeting of Congress, 九月 24, 2015.
But not all Catholics are wary of Biden. Days after the election, Pope Francis congratulated him in a phone conversation. And Washington archbishop 威尔顿·格雷戈里, who was just recently elevated by Francis to cardinal status has said he looks forward to an “open dialogue” with Biden. While some Catholics have said Biden should not receive communion because of his political views, Gregory has said he will not deny the President-elect the sacrament.
O’Brien insists that Biden has always recognized a distinction of his personal faith from his political career, even if the former frequently informs the latter.
“His faith is reflective of his compassion and empathy, his commitment to the vulnerable, and his service to the country,” said O’Brien.
Seattle Mariners president steps down after comments surface in which he disparaged baseball players
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Seattle Mariners president and CEO Kevin Mather resigned from the Major League Baseball club after disparaging comments he made earlier this month were made public over the weekend, according to an announcement Mond...