Reporter's Notebook: Why Biden's meeting with Pope Francis stands apart
Fox News
President Biden is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis on Friday to discuss abortion rights in the U.S.
"You have the second most famous Catholic in the world after the pope going around saying that, you know, abortion should be legal," the Wall Street Journal's Vatican correspondent Frank Rocca tells Fox News, explaining the recent furore. "He's the second Catholic president in US history. So that makes it a big issue and not only with conservative Catholics, but with a number of bishops who have said that he they don't think that he should be receiving Communion."
For these U.S. bishops, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's position is also problematic. These bishops are considering a public rebuke to Catholics who support policies which go against church doctrine. A call to refuse them Communion. That could happen as soon as next month. It would be part of a carefully worded document but the message would be sharp. The pope has pushed back at the brouhaha saying pastors should be pastors and leave politics aside.