Leftist news outlets have been shoving the “Biden is a devout Catholic” narrative down America’s throat for a while now. It’s obvious that he’s not, and the Media Research Center has several reasons for why the mainstream media still refers to him as such.
In an article written for NewsBusters, Rich Noyes and Bill D’Agostino cite the various press that commend the president’s piety. Mainstream news outlets praise Biden’s religious fervor until they’re blue in the face.
For example, CNN has made numerous declarations attesting to the holiness of Biden’s character. One such report came from columnist, Gloria Borger, who stated last year that Biden was“ a very devout Catholic....it’s been inculcated in him since he was a young kid.”
Likewise, correspondent Dana Bash proclaimed, “He has a very, very deep faith....He’s a very staunch Catholic. Has been his whole life.”
Reporter Wolf Blitzer was aware of his fellow journalists' redundant statements, but that didn’t stop him from saying, “He is, as we keep pointing out, a religious man, a man of deep faith.”
NBC’s and ABC’s staff constantly apply the description, “devout Catholic,” to Joe Biden’s name. Obviously, the media thinks, or is trying to sell the idea, that Biden is a devout Catholic.
But Noyes’s and D’Agostino’s article continues to cite the numerous objections that U.S. Catholic bishops have directed at Biden. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has reiterated that Biden should not support abortion and the LGBT agenda (which, of course, he does), because both would “advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity....” Devout Catholics aren’t supposed to endorse either, but Biden is ignoring that for the sake of social justice.
Biden has ran afoul of U.S. bishops for his actions supporting pro-choice views, such as when he announced his goal to codify Roe v. Wade. The head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, said that “it is deeply disturbing and tragic that any president would praise and commit to codifying a Supreme Court ruling that denies unborn children their most basic human and civil right, the right to life under the euphemistic disguise of a health service.”
Another notable act that invalidates the “devout Catholic” narrative is Biden’s signing of an executive order that applies anti-discrimination protections to certain groups. Aside from the fact that it “didn’t properly account for religious liberty and furthered ‘false theories on human sexuality,’” the bishops stated that the executive order “threatens to infringe the rights of people who recognize the truth of sexual difference or who uphold the institution of lifelong marriage between one man and one woman. This may manifest in mandates that, for example, erode health care conscience rights or needed and time-honored sex-specific spaces and activities.”
Upholding moral principles concerning life, gender, and family are all essential to Catholicism and the well-being of humanity. But Biden has failed to support these precepts according to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Noyes’s and D’Agostino’s article clearly proves that Biden is not a devout Catholic. So why does the media portray him as such?
According to NewsBuster’s Executive Editor Tim Graham, the media portray Biden as a devout Catholic because he wants them to.
“The media pitch Biden as a ‘devout Catholic’ based on his religious habits. He touts his weekly attendance at Mass and how he carries a rosary in his pocket and his faith has given him strength in hard times. All of this very carefully avoids Biden's actual public positions, which in some cases are in stark opposition to church teachings. He not only favors abortions, but now he even favors taxpayer-funded abortions. He favors same-sex marriage and agrees that gender is fluid and can change based on the feelings of each person. You can attend church, but it doesn't mean you're in line with it. You don't join Weight Watchers with the intention of gorging yourself. The CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken can't plausibly pose as a vegan. So reporters shouldn't use this ‘devout Catholic’ labeling if Biden isn't going to be ‘devout’ enough to actually agree with church teachings.”
In addition, on a NewsBusters Podcast, Newsbusters writer Gabriel Hays noted that the leftist media, using their “Biden is a devout Catholic” narrative, were branding him as a “new American Catholic” type that liberal Catholics could follow.
"There are plenty of Catholics who just don’t feel that the abortion issue is a central issue, or that they can work around it,” Hays said.
Citing an NPR article, he said that “they’re promoting Biden because Biden is lax on central issues of the faith...they’re lauding him as this opportunity for American Catholics to kind of find a new stance, or find permission to, you know, frankly accept mortally sinful views on abortion.”
To that end, if Biden really is a “devout Catholic” in spite of his political views, then others can be just as "devout." The narrative helps perpetuate the idea that liberal Catholics, who may not be well-formed in the faith or who may intentionally oppose Church doctrine, can be devout while supporting abortion, same-sex marriage, and other agendas contrary to Catholic teaching.
It now becomes a question of who Catholics will follow, Biden or the bishops. As Noyes’s and D’Agostino’s article has confirmed, the Catholic bishops are already protesting against Biden’s anti-Catholic actions. But the leftist media is trying to divert attention away from those actions and convince liberal Catholics that they can ignore the bishops and support anti-Catholic agendas since Biden, a “devout Catholic,” is doing the same. It seems like the press is actively working simultaneously for Biden’s administration and on their own form of evangelization.
Whether their efforts will come to fruition remains to be seen. It all depends on how many people actually believe that Biden is a “devout Catholic.”
(Cover Photo: Gage Skidmore)