Joe Biden denied communion at South Carolina church over abortion stance: report
FLORENCE, S.C. - Former Vice President, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden was reportedly denied communion by a priest while attending mass at a South Carolina church over the weekend.
Biden, a lifelong Catholic, stopped by St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence on Sunday, but was denied holy communion by the Rev. Robert E. Morey, WPDE reports.
FLORENCE, SC - OCTOBER 26: Democratic presidential candidate, former vice President Joe Biden addresses a crowd at Wilson High School on October 26, 2019 in Florence, South Carolina. Many presidential hopefuls campaigned in the early primary state ov
"Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to Former Vice President Joe Biden," Morey told the South Carolina Morning News in a statement.
The Biden campaign declined to comment, citing the incident as a private matter.
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Biden said in June that he opposes the Hyde Amendment after days of Democratic backlash over his having voiced support for the amendment. “If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code,” he explained in a speech at the time.
The presidential hopeful served as a senator from Delaware for 36 years before assuming the role of VP to former President Barack Obama in 2009. This will be Biden's third bid for the presidency; he also ran in 1988 and 2008.
This story was reported on from Charlotte, N.C.