Cardinal Raymond Burke is a high-ranking prelate of the Catholic Church. Burke has been an outspoken advocate for the conservative side of Church politics and has consistently come under fire for doing so. A clip of Burke on Fox News has been recirculating in recent days after former Vice President Joe Biden faced calls to condemn the wave of anti-Catholic attacks. In the interview, the cardinal reiterated the Church’s clear moral teaching about abortion.
“No practicing Catholic, no devout Catholic, can be in favor of abortion – or could justify voting for legislation, policies that promote abortion” said Burke. “And he [Joe Biden] has a consistent record of being pro-abortion.”
During the 2004 presidential election, Burke stated that he would not give Communion to John Kerry or other Catholic politicians who publicly support legalized abortion. Similarly, he has stated in the 2020 election that he would not give Communion to Biden.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden would be the most pro-abortion president in history. Although he was once a moderate, the Catholic former vice president now describes abortion as “essential health care.”
If elected, Biden said that he would codify Roe v. Wade into federal law and restore federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive-care providers for health services other than abortion.
The radical abortion-rights group NARAL has also endorsed Biden for president, just over a year after the group issued a harsh statement demanding he reverse his support for the Hyde Amendment – which he did.
Transcending politics, Cardinal Burke outlines how the issue of abortion “isn’t a question of a confessional belief, this has to do with the first precept of the natural law: the defense of human life.”
Speaking about the duplicitous nature of Catholics tacitly or expressly promoting abortion, Burke said, “you can’t say privately that you think it’s wrong, and act in your public life as if it’s not morally evil, since it is one of the greatest moral evils.”
