Joe the Theologian

In the October 19 edition of the News Journal, Joe Biden offered his thoughts on faith and values. The Delaware daily also printed a 2007 interview with the Democratic VP candidate on the subject of abortion; it was not previously published.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue criticizes Biden’s views today:

“In his latest interview with the News Journal, Biden says, ‘I accept my Church’s teaching on when life begins. But we live in a society where a large number of people don’t agree with that position.’ This is true and much the same could be said about racism: The Catholic Church calls racism ‘intrinsically evil’ and supports laws that criminalize it. Biden agrees with this Church teaching and has no problem imposing his view on ‘a large number of people [who] don’t agree with that position.’ But when it comes to abortion, which the Church also labels ‘intrinsically evil,’ Biden demurs. To explain this glaring inconsistency, consider what Biden said in his earlier interview with the newspaper.

“Biden declared that ‘my church has wrestled with this [abortion] for 2,000 years.’ Wrong—the wrestling match he envisions is pure fantasy. The Catholic Catechism clearly states that ‘Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and is unchangeable.’

“Biden also said that ‘throughout the church’s history, we’ve argued whether or not it [abortion] is wrong in every circumstance and the degree of wrong.’ Wrong—as the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently said, ‘modern science has not changed the Church’s constant teaching against abortion, but has underscored how important and reasonable it is….’

“Biden dug himself in deeper when he opined that ‘One of my avocations is theology,’ boasting that ‘I’m a John XXIII guy, I’m not a Pope John Paul guy.’ Well, someone should tell ‘Joe the Theologian’ that John XXIII was every bit as anti-abortion as that ‘other guy,’ JPII.”

Susan A. Fani is the Director of Communications for the Catholic League. This press release was originally issued on October 22, 2008.