The gesture was made while Nikki Fried, Chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, was expressing her disapproval of Governor Ron DeSantis and the state's stringent six-week ban on abortion.
Fried voiced her criticism, stating, "We come back here to the state of Florida, where Ron DeSantis felt like he needed to run for President, so 15 weeks wasn’t good enough. We had to go to six weeks." As she spoke, President Biden was observed making the Sign of the Cross, a gesture that dates back to at least the third century and is widely used by Catholic and Orthodox churches as a form of blessing.
However, this act by the President has been met with severe backlash, particularly from the Christian community. Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, expressed his indignation to Fox News Digital, saying, "Biden's use of the Sign of the Cross in support of abortion is a disgusting insult towards all Christians, but especially of Catholics whom he claims as his own." He further added, "The Sign of the Cross is a sacred gesture used by believers to bless themselves, ask forgiveness, or to protect them from temptation. Instead, Biden has turned this ancient Christian practice into an endorsement of abortion extremism."
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President Biden, who has often emphasized his Catholic identity during his presidential campaigns, has been accused of disregarding non-negotiable church teachings. This was highlighted last week when Bishop Robert Gruss of the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan, criticized the President for the dissonance between his religious beliefs and political stance. The Bishop stated, "I don't have any anger towards the president. I feel sorry for him. I'm not angry at him, he's just stupid. It's not stupidity in the derogatory way, it's stupidity in the sense of [...] he doesn't understand the Catholic faith."
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Burch further commented on the President's gesture, stating, "No Catholic, regardless of their position on abortion, can support this grotesque abuse of religious piety." He urged voters of faith to comprehend the implications of the upcoming November elections, adding, "The new abortion religion, which seeks to mock and ultimately destroy Christianity, is on the ballot."
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Fox News Digital reached out to Bishop Gregory Parkes of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, which has jurisdiction over Tampa, for his views on the President's rally. A spokesperson for the diocese responded, "Bishop Gregory Parkes consistently teaches about the Catholic Church’s position on abortion. Also, Bishop Parkes and the bishops of Florida have recently issued a statement to educate people on the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion and why they should vote no on Amendment Four."
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Amendment Four, proposed by Florida pro-choice groups earlier this year, stipulates that "no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider." In response to this, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement urging Floridians to stand against the legalization of late-term abortion and oppose the abortion amendment, thereby protecting not only the most vulnerable human lives but also countless women throughout the state from the harms of abortion.
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