By way of Spiritual Politics, God-o-Meter learns that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a statement criticizing Joe Biden for his comments around abortion on Sunday’s Meet the Press, when he said that the question of when life begins is a “personal and private matter” and that, for him, it began at conception.

The Bishops criticized the “personal and private matter” part.

However, the Senator’s claim that the beginning of human life is a “personal and private” matter of religious faith, one which cannot be “imposed” on others, does not reflect the truth of the matter. The Church recognizes that the obligation to protect unborn human life rests on the answer to two questions, neither of which is private or specifically religious.

Click here for the rest.

Could this be a significant turning point in the role of Catholic Bishops in the presidential contest on the abortion issue? Untils now, it’s been outspoken Denver archbishop Charles Chaput who’s been beating the drum against Biden and other Democrats over his abortion stance. Catholic Obama supporters have suggested that Chaput was freelancing.

A rebuke from the US Council of Catholic Bishops is a different story, throwing much more of the weight of the Catholic church behind the Obama/Biden abortion critique.

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