Kennedy’s faith became a point of contention when, as a presidential candidate in 1960, he faced resistance and outright anti-Catholic bigotry from Protestant pastors concerned that a Kennedy administration could be manipulated from Rome. Kennedy, the United States’ first and only Catholic president who, like Biden, declined to kiss a pontiff’s ring when he met Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1963. Inspired by JFKīiden’s complicated relationship with the Catholic hierarchy is a slight reimagining of the Catholicism modeled by John F. It’s a form of faith that experts describe as profoundly Catholic in ways that resonate with millions of American believers: It offers solace in moments of anxiety or grief, can be rocked by long periods of spiritual wrestling and is more likely to be influenced by the quiet counsel of women in habits or one’s own conscience than the edicts of men in miters. It’s not so much the Bible, the Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, the sacraments, or the prayers I learned. “I’m as much a cultural Catholic as I am a theological Catholic,” Biden wrote in his book “ Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics.” “My idea of self, of family, of community, of the wider world comes straight from my religion. But where Catholic morality rubs up against welfare or justice issues such as abortion and gay rights, Biden’s understanding of his duty as a politician and a Catholic is clear: Decisions are to be informed by the faith he learned from nuns of his youth, not dictated by it. His refusal has become a hallmark of how Biden manages his faith, a throwback to a brand of mid-20th-century political Catholicism that eschews obsessive obedience to the Holy See on matters of policy.Īn Irish Catholic educated by nuns in parochial schools, Biden is quick to invoke the church’s social teaching on the stump. It was later revealed that it was Biden’s mother who insisted he refrain, telling her son, “Don’t you kiss his ring.” Biden, a Roman Catholic from Pennsylvania coal country with an interest in foreign policy, listened intently.ĭespite the thrill of meeting John Paul, there was one thing Biden refused to do: Kiss the pope’s ring, a customary greeting when meeting an esteemed cleric. The pontiff ribbed the senator about his age as the two discussed everything from the politics of Eastern Europe to the spread of communism in Latin America.

After waving them out of the room, John Paul pulled his chair out from behind his desk to sit closer to Biden.

senator barely a year into his second term.Īccording to a Catholic News Service account of the encounter, the pope shooed away Vatican aides several times when they attempted to interrupt the 45-minute conversation. It was with a 37-year-old Joe Biden, a U.S. In spring of 1980, Pope John Paul II had one of the longest meetings of his fledgling papacy.

American prophets by jack jenkins