Biden Receives Standing Ovation at Catholic Mass after Receiving Communion

Tuesday January 20, 2009
By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two days before he became the next American Vice President, Sen. Joe Biden attended John F. Kennedy's own Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church for Mass, where parishioners gave the pro-abortion politician a standing ovation minutes after he received communion.

Biden has reportedly worshipped at Holy Trinity several times while serving as a senator.

The event sparked criticism because, according to Church teaching, public figures who support abortion legislation are automatically excommunicated for violating the Church's pro-life teaching, and therefore should not be given communion.

"This episode perfectly illustrates the contrast between 'identity Catholicism' and 'conviction Catholicism,'" said Thomas Peters of the American Papist blog. The former, he said, "reduces the term Catholic to a merely technical description: in this way Joe Biden is a Catholic. He was baptized, attends Mass, puts 'Catholic' on his questionnaire. the rest