For many Americans, religion is an important part of politics, and the faith background of a president could potentially shape his ultimate decisions. Throughout his political career, President Joe Biden’s Catholic faith has always been a major presence: he attends Mass every Sunday, has spoken about the importance of religion in his life, and was even sworn into office using a 127-year-old family Bible. Biden’s presidency will mark only the second time that a Catholic has ever led the nation, the first since fellow Democrat John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic ever elected president in 1961. However, Biden’s situation could not be any more different. 

Despite the fact that President Biden has presented himself as a devout Catholic, unlike Kennedy, Biden’s political stance has challenged the Church’s position on social issues.

Though many Catholics are celebrating Biden’s rise to the presidency, many U.S. Catholics are fuming over it, mostly because of his support for legal abortion and same-sex marriage, both sins according to church teaching. In fact, ahead of the election, some church leaders said Catholics should not vote for Mr. Biden because of those views, while others said Catholics have the freedom to come to their own decisions in the voting booth. Other exit surveys from Gallup show Biden narrowly won the Catholic vote last November, coming in at 52% in contrast to Kennedy’s 80% of the Catholic vote in 1961. So what does this mean for Biden’s presidency, and how might his Catholicism affect or inform his policies? 

As Biden’s Catholicism is at the core of his life, it is likely to shape the way he governs as president. In his book Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics, he wrote, “My idea of self, of family, of community, of the wider world comes straight from my religion. It’s not so much the Bible, the Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, the Sacraments, or the prayers I learned. It’s the culture.” After the results of the election were called, Biden and Pope Francis spoke, and according to CNBC, the call “touched” on Biden’s “desire to work together on the basis of a shared belief in the dignity and equality of all humankind” on issues like climate change, immigration reform and “caring for the marginalized and the poor.” However despite his faith-driven moral principles, Biden said, “What I’m not prepared to do is impose a precise view that is borne out of my faith on other people,” in a 2015 interview with America magazine.

When asked their thoughts upon the matter, Athey Family Master of History Chris Chirieleison and Strategy Management and Admission Liaison Andrea Chirieleison who help coordinate Catholic Sunday Mass for students and members of the Hill community, stated, “The word ‘Catholic’ can be defined as universal, and as Catholics, we trust in God and pray that President Biden will exemplify the most noble ways in which the United States of America is universal.  Above all, we believe that God is love, and according to our faith “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-7. And so we hope that President Biden and his administration will govern with the love of God in their hearts and the well-being of all people in their minds.” 

Yet, to many faith leaders, Biden embodies a compassion for people born of great loss and nurtured by religion. According to Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, Biden faces an overwhelming agenda at this period of time, and Catholics from the ranks of church leadership to those in the pews should offer their prayers to help guide him, Catholic News Service reports. The question now is whether or not Biden will be able to heal “America’s hurting soul”, and if his faith will ultimately help in that goal.