Villanova University historian of theology Massimo Faggioli is not surprised that the second Catholic President was greeted warmly by Pope Francis - but skeptically by some of the American hierarchy and by conservative Catholics. Like the country itself the U.S. Catholic Church is in what Michael Sean Winters of National Catholic Reporter has called a "functional schism".
This dilemma is presented insightfully by Faggioli in his newest book the timely Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States.
This moment of danger and opportunity was the occasion for a conversation with Faggioli last week at Boston College's BOISI Center. Hosted by Mark Massa, S.J., each panelist posed three questions for President Biden. They were E.J. Dionne [Brookings and Washington Post], Amy Uelmen [Georgetown] and Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego.
While New York's Archbishop allied himself with the former President, McElroy - who had been appointed by Francis - took a broader view in February of last year, writing in NCR:
In the closing remarks of his address to Congress in 2015, Pope Francis said a nation is great when it defends liberty as Abraham Lincoln did, when it seeks equality as Martin Luther King did, and when it strives for justice for the oppressed as Dorothy Day did. Let us pray that our nation moves toward such greatness in this election year, and that faith-filled prudent disciples are leading the way.
- GWC
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