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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPresident Joe Biden on Friday said he would nominate former Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.
The position—actually referred to as the ambassador to the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church—requires Senate approval.
Donnelly, a Democrat and devout Catholic, defended Biden’s Catholic faith during last year’s presidential campaign, writing in an op-ed published in August 2020 that Biden “lives his faith every day.”
“Every Sunday, he is on his knees attending Mass and praying for his country, his family and all those in need in our beloved nation,” he wrote in The Indianapolis Star. “I know this because I know Joe Biden and I come from the same Irish Catholic faith tradition.”
Donnelly was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and served one term before he was defeated by Republican Mike Braun, who holds the seat today. Before his election to the Senate, Donnelly served three terms as a member of the U.S. House representing Indiana’s second congressional district.
After his Senate defeat, Donnelly became a partner at Akin Gump, a lobbying and law firm in Washington, D.C., where he advises clients in the financial services, defense and health care industries.
He has two degrees from the University of Notre Dame, a 1977 undergraduate degree in government and a 1981 law degree.
In a statement released after the announcement, Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Mike Schmuhl called Donnelly “a man of character, integrity and faith.”
“His fundamental belief in the values we cherish as Hoosiers and Americans will make Joe a great fit to serve as ambassador to the Holy See at the Vatican,” he said.
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Please clarify how a pro-abortion Catholic president, can appoint a pro-abortion Catholic ambassador to the Vatican, and claim they live their faith, unless there is a punchline to follow.
Exactly.
LOL – there is no one that is pro-abortion. Pro-choice is far different than pro-abortion. I believe abortion is wrong but also believe the best way to reduce it is to counsel pregnant individuals on THEIR choices and encourage alternatives like adoption or financial help for single mothers.
Easy answer. They govern a nation of many faiths and beliefs. The government and the laws and polices must reflect accordingly. One separates governing a nation of diverse religious views from personal faith. The two actions can co-exist.
Generalizations should be avoided. Nation and personal are.different.
While the United States is a nation of religious and with a sound right for freedom of religion, the US not a church-state. Pro-choice is not pro-abortion.
Lastly, may abortion remain legal and safe, but with clean limitations. Abortion should not be birth control. And all means should be implemented to provide options and reduce the likelihood that one would seek an abortion. Catholics, as many from all walks of life, get abortions and commit sins. Who will throw the first stone.
being anti-abortion doesn’t mean less abortions, it just means more clotheshanger abortions
Exactly, Matthew, Derek, and Robert. Most pro-lifers have very little interest in policies that would lead to less abortions.
I’d like to see the below repeated in Indiana:
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Colorado’s experiment was funded with a $23 million grant from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for the late wife of billionaire Warren Buffett. And the results are striking: By 2013, teen births in Colorado had dropped 40 percent — compared with a 30 percent decline nationwide. The steep drop continued last year. Abortions among teenagers in Colorado were also down. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper said the savings in Medicaid and government assistance far outweigh the up-front costs.
“What greater gift can you give to a teenaged potential mother than the opportunity to plan her family so when she has children, it’s when they’re wanted, when she can afford to care for them … and to do it in such a cost-effective way in terms of government spending? It dramatically reduces government spending,” he said.
When seed money from the Buffett foundation ran out this summer, Hickenlooper asked for state funding to continue the program. But Republican state lawmakers like Rep. Kathleen Conti said no. Conti complains that the long-acting birth control is too expensive and sends the wrong message to teenagers who should instead be taught to refrain from sex.
“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the doctors encouraged the kids: ‘Now that you’ve got this, feel free to have sex with everybody.’ But I think it, by default, takes away one more intimidating problem.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/09/03/437268213/colorados-long-lasting-birth-control-program-for-teens-may-not-last-long
A good summary, Stanley J.
Quote from Joe B: “What greater gift can you give to a teen-aged potential mother than the opportunity to plan her family so when she has children, it’s when they’re wanted, when she can afford to care for them … and to do it in such a cost-effective way in terms of government spending? It dramatically reduces government spending,” he said.
A teen-ager who is pregnant is not a potential mother; she is a mother. If she doesn’t feel that she can care for a baby right now, both God and our legal system have provided not only the methodology for placing the baby for adoption at birth, but have provided a waiting list of people wanting to adopt newborns. These babies may not be wanted by their birth mother right now. but they are wanted by both their heavenly Creator and the people waiting in line here on earth…and decades later, should the birth mother marry and have additional children, she won’t be overcome with guilt over the one she voluntarily murdered earlier, when she sees how precious the later ones are.
This is not complicated.
No, Bob. It’s not complicated. Here’s the thing – I agree with you. Matthew agrees with you too. I also want there be minimal abortions. Which is why this is so maddening.
Here’s the thing. Banning abortion clinics will not end abortion. There is a reason we have abortion clinics … because they are a better alternative to back alley abortions. If you get rid of the clinics, you’re re-opening the ones that maim and kill girls. You’re not just killing the child, you’re killing the mother too. You’re willfully ignoring history.
But I digress. Minimal abortions. How do I think we get there?
First, those lists and programs for adoption? That’s a start. Do they pay full freight? I doubt it, since they don’t advertise to women that they pay for everything, they advertise “options”. They should pay full freight.
Second, contraceptives like IUD’s… they work. Make them easily available to teen girls. Teach both boys and girls how birth control works and make it available to them. Reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies. Blast boys with advertising with how much it costs in child support to raise a child.
When you focus on banning abortion while also fighting against sex ed in schools and also fighting against efforts to improve healthcare in this country, that tells me you’re really not all that interested in reducing abortions. By the way, abstinence-only sex ed is a joke and has never worked … unless you believe that girl back in high school really did want to move to her uncle’s farm way back when. Heck, it didn’t work in the Bible!
Finally, and perhaps relatedly, another way to minimize abortions would be to work to reduce the quarter-million dollar cost of raising a kid. Decent childcare at an affordable price would go a long way. The stories of people getting abortions because they can’t afford another child are sad.
By the way, minimal abortions means it’s allowed for rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at stake. I’m not a monster.
Another “devout” Catholic who believes in abortion.
Catholic by Baptism – far from devout for either of “the Joes”.
EXCELLENT idea! Both of them claim to be practicing Roman Catholics while wholeheartedly supporting the Democrat platform that not only approves of abortions but thinks taxpayers should be forced to pay for them by supporting the butchers that are Planned Parenthood. I’m sure Donnelly will be able to straighten out their “church” on that oversight. (I make a little joke; both men ought to be ashamed of themselves in that regard…but shame has never been a word in the “Progressive Democrat” dictionary…)
And the [heart] beat goes on…until it is terminated by an abortionist, that is…
Quote: “Donnelly, a devout Catholic, defended Biden’s Catholic faith during last year’s presidential campaign, writing in an op-ed published in August 2020 that Biden “lives his faith every day.” Every Sunday, he is on his knees attending Mass and praying for his country, his family and all those in need in our beloved nation,” he wrote. “I know this because I know Joe Biden and I come from the same Irish Catholic faith tradition.”
What disgusting blather; give me a break…
That is incorrect. There are no federal dollars for abortions. And democrats do not propose that taxpayers pay for abortions.
So, as long as abortions are paid by the person getting it, or whomever but not the federal government, would that make abortion more acceptable to those who think it should not be allowed.
While many feel justified in calling out who is or is not a good christian or good catholic, are they without sin? Was divine direction provided to those individuals?
And to generalize regarding a democrat or a republican or a [name you target audience] is of one singular aspect is wrong. It is inconsiderate. It is rude and it is certainly in-christianlike. And those who do thos should be ashamed of themselves.
Derek, pay attention: I’ve heard that specious argument before; that the money given to Planned Parenthood by the Federal Government can’t be used to provide abortions. How stupid do you take me and other pro-lifers to be; if PP gets money from anywhere for anything, it’s that much more of whatever budget they have that they can pour into advertising for and providing abortions. Money is money is money; how they play with it internally to make it look like it is not providing abortions is an insult to intelligent people.
“Every Sunday, he is on his knees attending Mass and praying for his country, his family and all those in need in our beloved nation,” he wrote.”
Does he pray for all of the babies he facilitates the killing of, I wonder? Does he pray for his own soul? I’m curious.
Great comments above. Can’t add a whole lot more other than these two “devout” hypocrite Catholics deserve on another. Probably ought to include in this distinguished group our Marxist pope. My, what is the world coming to…
Both Joe’s are card-carrying members of the Democratic Party of Murder … and Legacy Welfare Plantation. The party that has done everything imaginable to keep the boot of oppression on the neck of Black Americans. Some might say that those that are “devout” are not only on their knees on Sunday, but every day of the week as well. The Roman Catholic Church has their own history of sexual battery, molestation, and cover-up right up to the current day. These are not judgements, but observations. God is judge.
The other opinions here can’t really be topped. All I can say that people like these that “claim” to be people of faith are an insult to real people of faith. Although I am not Catholic, my cousin and all his family are and they do live their faith.
The politicians mentioned above wear their “faith” like a membership in a local lodge or community something. They likely don’t even know what it is to be a real follower.
If they really knew what they were saying and believed even to small degree, they would quake in their shoes. God does not look at being a complete secular pagan as severely as someone that masquerades as believer with absolutely no real belief at all.
Donnelly is actually considered a pro-life Democrat, which has been a difficult balance.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/10/abortion-once-again-tricky-issue-democratic-sen-joe-donnelly/936377002/
LOL. Is this a Babylon Bee article?
He is a Catholic in name only. You can’t be a Catholic and support abortion . Too bad the IBJ isn’t smart enough to know that. His appointment and this article is disgraceful.
More than half of U.S. Catholics (56%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while roughly four-in-ten (42%) said it should be illegal in all or most cases, according to the 2019 Pew Research Center survey. Sounds like you should find a new religion.