Villanova Professor Discusses the Significance of Joe Biden Being the Second Catholic Elected President

On the morning of Saturday, November 7, Joe Biden was announced by numerous media outlets as the projected winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. President-elect Biden will be only the second Roman Catholic to occupy the nation's highest office.

Massimo Faggioli, PhD, is a professor of historical theology at Villanova University. He recently discussed the significance of Biden being only the second Catholic elected president and the work he has in front of him.

"Biden is a 'Pope Francis Catholic'—much more aligned to the political culture of the pontificate than John Kerry was as a 'Pope John Paul II Catholic' in 2004, or Kennedy, a good Catholic in 1960. When Kennedy, the first Catholic president, was elected in 1960, U.S. Catholicism was much less divided and in much better relations with the Vatican compared to today," Dr. Faggioli said. "It's the first time we have a Catholic president since the return of religion in the public square."

"Anti-Francis Catholicism in the U.S. goes much deeper than Trump Catholics and includes a number of U.S. bishops. It will be difficult for Biden to navigate the triangular relations between Vatican-White House-U.S. bishops," continued Dr. Faggioli. "The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is paralyzed and—especially on social issues—it is difficult to take distance from a rhetoric that is very similar to the GOP, and this will show in dealing with a Biden presidency. Biden as a Catholic will have against him a powerful Catholic media system in the U.S. that makes no mystery of its fierce opposition against Biden's and Francis' Catholicism."