Though the fundraising dinner normally serves as an opportunity for candidates to employ self-deprecating humor and take a break from the intensity of campaigning, both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden refrained from jokes this year.

As news of President Trump’s positive COVID-19 test spread, prayers began flowing for his recovery and for the recovery of First Lady Melania Trump.

Here is my confession: I am a real Catholic, and I am not going to vote for Donald J. Trump.

Trump has accepted an invitation to return to the dinner for the first time in four years. Organizers said they anticipate his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, will attend as well.

To argue that a person’s religious beliefs are not or should not be influential in how they approach judicial questions shows an ignorance of history and politics.

“Asylum on the border is pretty much impossible,” a legal advocate with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said. “Covid is being used as an excuse to close the border.”