President Joe Biden will not be giving the commencement address at the Catholic University of Notre Dame this year, it has emerged, breaking with tradition, reportedly due to the President’s pro-abortion position after students petitioned against him.
Sitting U.S. presidents or vice-presidents have given graduate addresses at the University of Notre Dame every year since 2001. Joe Biden, the second Catholic to be president in the nation, will not attend this year – a response to students questioning his true Catholic credentials.
The University of Notre Dame is one of the United States’ most prominent Catholic universities, with a current student population of just over 12,000.
The petition – protecting Catholics who might be “led astray”
According to reports, 4,300 students and other “members of the Notre Dame community” signed a petition calling on the University to reject Biden’s pro-abortion politics and refuse him an invite:
“By honouring Biden… the University would be seen as little troubled by Biden’s actions… Catholics — including especially Catholic politicians — and others who share Biden’s views would be confirmed in their ruinous error while others would be newly led astray…
“He [Biden] embraces the most pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty public policy program in history. The case against honouring him is immeasurably stronger than it was against honouring President Obama.”
The president of Notre Dame, Rev. John Jenkins, did invite the President – though Biden chose not to attend due to supposed conflicts in scheduling.
In 2016, Biden, before he was U.S. president, attended a Notre Dame graduation, where he received the University’s highest honour, the Laetare Medal.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “It appears that good sense and Catholic teaching have prevailed here, at least in the hearts of Notre Dame’s student population, which has refused to take President Biden’s supposed Catholic faith at face value.
“But Biden’s declared faith is not the real issue here, but rather his abortion politics, which explicitly goes against Catholic teaching. Moreover, Biden is already one of the most, if not the most, extreme pro-abortion presidents in history.
“As SPUC has reported on numerous occasions this year, Biden has pursued a pro-abortion agenda from the outset of his presidency, leaving many Democrat Christians feeling betrayed – especially by the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that made taxpayer money available for the funding of abortion.
“Biden’s nomination of pro-abortion extremist Xavier Becerra to be U.S. health secretary, now confirmed – the same administrator who, as attorney general of California, insisted that Catholic nuns pay for health insurance funding abortion – also shows where his loyalties lie.
“The President was not apparently refused an invite by the University, but it does seem that pressure from students and alumni forced him to rethink his attendance at the ceremony.
“While Biden should be allowed a voice, the granting of high honours such as medals and speeches to him by a Catholic university would, indeed, have sent the wrong message to Catholics in the United States and elsewhere.”
Similar stories
Democratic Party becoming more extreme on abortion, new poll reveals
President Biden to reverse Trump ban on abortion referrals in the case of federally funded family planning clinics
Pro-life evangelical Christians “betrayed” by President Biden’s COVID relief bill that may fund abortion
U.S. House of Representatives passes $1.9 trillion COVID Relief Bill that could be used to fund abortion