Catholic theologian Massimo Faggioli criticises many bishops in the USA. They support Donald Trump “despite his lies, his agitation and his attacks on democracy”, he told the newspapers of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse (Wednesday online). For many, the issue of abortion is more important than democracy. The Catholic Church in the USA is divided, added the professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University (Pennsylvania): “About half vote Democratic, about half Republican. White Catholics tend to vote Republican, non-white Catholics tend to vote Democrat.”
In a guide published by the US bishops’ conference in 2023, the issue of abortion is named as the number one priority: “This is of course a message that is automatically interpreted as support for the Republicans, who are considered to be the anti-abortion party – to which Donald Trump also contributed in his first presidency.” Among other things, he appointed three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, and the supreme court subsequently overturned the nationwide right to abortion. Since then, the decision on abortion rights has been back in the hands of the individual states. Several states have subsequently banned abortions at any point during pregnancy, while others have massively tightened the regulations.
“The Catholics and the bishops, who see abortion as the number one issue, are therefore in favour of Trump – especially since Joe Biden has made the defence of abortion rights a theme of his presidency,” Faggioli continued: “A minority of bishops, on the other hand, are sceptical about the focus on this one issue and also ask whether abortions could not be prevented by better social and family policies.”
“If bishops can read, think and write”
Thanks to English Katholisch.
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