Analysis: “Catholic Bishops reprimand Trump as often as they praise him”

 

To examine just how the bishops have responded to Trump, I looked at over 160 press releases dealing with public policy issues from January 2019 through July 2020, published on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the authoritative voice of the U.S. bishops on public policy. 

 

There's no doubt that the bishops make a priority of abortion and other pro-life issues: More than 30 press releases addressed life topics in the past 19 months. “We are deeply grateful for the President’s pro-life commitment," one release said, "and for all the actions this administration has taken to protect unborn children and their mothers from the violence of abortion.”

 

The bishops made clear their opposition to fetal tissue research, assisted suicide, government funding of abortion, as well as their support for state and federal restrictions on abortion. They welcomed the re-institution of the Mexico City Policy “to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are not used to perform or promote abortion internationally.”

 

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Seven releases address freedom of conscience protection. They hailed measures allowing healthcare workers to opt out of performing or assisting with abortions or other procedures they see as immoral. They were also delighted by the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of nuns who opposed the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate.

 

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None of these points of intersection with the Trump administration policies is surprising, but they are only half the story. The bishops and Trump were often in conflict on immigration, foreign policy, the death penalty and the environment, among other issues.

 

In 22 press releases on immigrants and another 13 on refugees, the bishops attacked the administration’s policies as “misguided and untenable,” “unacceptable,” “appalling,” “devastating,” “very concerning,” “heartbreaking,” “unlawful and inhumane,” “terrible,” “callous,” “disturbing” and “contrary to American and Christian values.”

 

These are not words used by starry-eyed supporters.

 

The bishops spoke out strongly and frequently in support of the DACA program that protects from deportation those who were brought to the United States illegally as small children. “We are deeply disappointed that the Administration continues to push forward to end DACA," they said.