Denying Communion to Joe Biden will not get Catholics back in the pews — or bring together a church whose members are sometimes more likely to bend the knee to an elephant or donkey than to the eucharistic Lord.

The proposed Build Back Better Act has much-needed provisions “uplifting the common good,” but unacceptably “expands taxpayer funding of abortion,” the chairmen of six U.S.C.C.B. committees said.

On this 25th anniversary of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s death, we can look back to him for guidance as we try to find a way out of the hostility toward dialogue we have been trapped in since the 1990s.

A draft document about the Eucharist being prepared by a group of U.S. bishops makes only oblique references to Catholic politicians who disagree with church teaching.

Following a lengthy meeting with Pope Francis, President Joe Biden said on Friday that the pope told him he is a “good Catholic” and encouraged him to continue receiving Communion.

Images from tomorrow’s Vatican meeting will be scrutinized by Catholics eager to understand any impact the encounter might have on U.S. bishops’ meeting beginning on Nov. 15.