Clerical kidnappings, elections, and COVID dominate Catholic news in Americas
- Apr 13, 2021
Hours after the Biden administration’s COVID-19 relief plan passed Wednesday, several U.S. Bishops Conference chairmen called it “unconscionable” that the bill didn’t include protections against taxpayer funding of abortion.
If it passes and becomes law, the American Rescue Plan Congress is considering would pit the great need Americans have for economic relief in this pandemic against those who insist the bill must include abortion funding, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairmen of seven USCCB committees.
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, has introduced a bill to prohibit use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told the World Health Organization’s executive board Jan. 21 that “in the coming days,” President Joe Biden will revoke the so-called “Mexico City policy,” which blocks U.S. funding of foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform and promote abortion as a form of family planning.
If President Donald Trump’s legal efforts to challenge his 2020 reelection results prove unsuccessful and Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States, pro-life advocates are finding no silver linings.
Part one of Crux’s look back at life in the U.S. Church during 2017.
Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said after Senate Republicans failed to pass a “skinny” repeal to remove parts of the Affordable Care Act that the task of reform remains, citing both financial sustainability and full protection of conscience rights.