Fox’s latest false smears of President Joe Biden might have you believing that the devout, practicing Catholic is on the verge of being excommunicated.

Fox News did its darndest to bring down candidate Biden – there was the “earpiece” conspiracy, there was the Biden as senile meme. Now that Biden is president, Fox, in its desperation to erode Biden’s popularity, is spreading the word that Biden is a bad Catholic because he supports abortion rights. Try as they might, this meme is just as bogus as the others!

Fox’s attacks on Biden’s faith started before he was elected

The barrage of Fox News website articles questioning Biden’s Catholicism seems to have begun back in October of 2020 with Vandana Rambaran's article about how Joe Biden was denied Communion: "Biden on being denied communion: 'I'm a practicing Catholic, I practice my faith.'” The article reported that a South Carolina priest denied Biden Communion due to the president's abortion views. 

In November, anti-abortion activist turned “journalist” Sam Dorman wrote an article with this big, bold headline: “Some Roman Catholics sounding alarm about Biden administration, conflicts with moral teachings; The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement about the 'problems' created by a Catholic president who supports certain progressive policies.”

The piece reported that the head of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Jose Gomez, has taken issue with some of Biden’s positions. Dorman included comments from a conservative anti-Biden group, “Catholic Vote,” and noted how Biden’s faith has become “a touchy subject” due to his support for abortion rights. He linked to the aforementioned article about the Communion denial.

Flash forward to January 2021 for more of the same. Our pal Sam Dorman (whose beat includes anti-abortion and anti-Planned Parenthood propaganda) had this shocking headline: “Head of US bishops' conference warns Biden would 'advance moral evils and threaten human life;’ Archbishop Gomez said abortion was 'also a matter of social justice'." The article detailed how the Catholic bishops were concerned that Biden’s non-discrimination executive order would conflict with Catholic religious freedom.

Dorman’s report of White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s comments on Biden’s faith had this headline: “White House says Biden is a 'devout Catholic' when asked about abortion policies; Cardinal Raymond Burke has said Biden was not a ‘Catholic in good standing.’” (So now it’s out there – according to an elderly conservative prelate, who blames Catholic clergy pedophilia on “radical feminists,” Biden is a bad Catholic!)

After citing Psaki’s comment that Biden was a devout Catholic, the rest of the article was a litany of how Biden’s views contradict Catholic teaching. Never mind that Biden regularly attends Catholic services at real churches, with real clergy who seem happy to minister to him.

Dorman (whose misunderstanding of a term caused Fox to issue an embarrassing apology) also had this eye-catching headline: “Roman Catholic bishops alarmed by ‘misguided’ Biden executive order; The order 'threatens to infringe the rights of people who recognize the truth of sexual difference'.” The piece covered, once again, the bishops’ claim that Biden’s non-discrimination policies, which protect LGBT folks, discriminate against Catholics. Dorman included this: “Biden's identification as a Catholic has come under intense scrutiny from some given his public advocacy and activity.”

Adam Shaw's report, titled “SF Archbishop scolds Pelosi for attack on anti-abortion voters: She 'does not speak for the Catholic Church,’” dovetailed conservative Catholic bishop Cordileone’s Fox & Friends visit, which I wrote about earlier this week, during which he hammered Democrats, particularly Nancy Pelosi, for their evil ways.

Fox’s Evie Fordham gave us this: “NYTimes ripped for labeling Biden 'most religiously observant' president in 50 years; Pundits were quick to point out former presidents George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.” The ripping came from – wait for it – conservative Christian twitter users. The last sentence reminded us about the bishop’s criticism of Biden’s anti-discrimination policy.

Most recently, Dorman also had this: “Catholic bishops slam Biden’s 'grievous' executive order funding overseas abortion providers; 'It is grievous that one of President Biden’s first official acts actively promotes the destruction of human lives in developing nations.” The article reports that Biden’s lifting of a ban on overseas abortion funding is his “latest rebuking action.” Dorman even quotes the Catholic Catechism and cites a Marist poll on abortion, but doesn’t mention that it was commissioned by the anti-abortion Knights of Columbus.  

Fox Mostly ‘Forgets’ Pope Francis doesn’t have a problem with Biden

Missing from all this coverage is the fact that not all the American bishops agree with Gomez and that the Bishop of Washington, who offered a prayer at Biden’s inauguration, doesn't seem to seem to have an issue with Biden's faith and will continue to provide Communion. One bishop said that Bishop Gomez’s statement “was ‘ill-considered’ and noted that there was no precedent for issuing one.” Nowhere in the articles was there mention of Pope Francis’ congratulatory letter to Biden, although there was one Fox article which reported on that. 

So, counting the Fox & Friends video, we have, 8 articles and 1 video attacking Biden for his faith. Do I detect a pattern, here?

You can watch the January 24^, 2021 Fox & Friends segment attacking Biden’s faith below.