Thompson quoted in The Hill article on banning communion for Biden

June 21, 2021

The Hill

Margaret Susan Thompson

History Department

Political Science Department

Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Federal

Religion

United States

The Hill

Margaret Susan Thompson

U.S. bishops are set to open a controversial and divisive debate over whether President Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, and other politicians should be denied communion based on their stance on abortion. It promises to be a testy discussion on a sensitive issue that is dividing people from the top of the Vatican, with some bishops eager to make an example of Biden and others warning this would weaponize the Holy Communion. "There really is a tension between bishops and that tension has always existed in the USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), it’s always been there. It’s just a question of what is predominant," says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. She was quoted in The Hill article, "Bishops to debate banning communion for president."