Biden’s response to the possibility of the USCCB barring him from communion — “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he told reporters in June — was again technically true, but it ignored the ramifications of the debate. “It has already had tremendously damaging impact in the Catholic community,” said McElroy. “I was afraid that this step would be another moment in which this toxic political culture would come into the life of the church and the Catholic community. If there were any exhortation or statement precluding public officials who are pro-choice from receiving the Eucharist, it would do great damage to people’s understanding of the Eucharist and to the unity of the Catholic community in the United States. It would be very bad.”…

Archbishop Wester said he believes Pope Francis is “watching quite closely” and “is very concerned” about the conference taking an exclusionary posture of any kind, especially amid a pandemic. “I do think he wants to see us engaging people, even in these difficult intractable issues,” said Wester. “They’re messy, and they’re, you know, they’re cumbersome, and they’re a burden. But that’s, you know, that’s what the call of the gospel is to do — to roll our sleeves up and to work with people and to convince them of the sanctity of human life.”

So how does this get resolved?

“Yeah, I don’t know,” said McElroy, laughing. “I’m praying. We’re all praying.”