- Catholic bishops are set to decide

whether to press PresidentBiden to stop taking communion

over the president's support for abortion.

Matthew Bunson, the Washingtonbureau chief at EWTN,

the global Catholic network,

told CBN News that America'ssecond Catholic president is,

quote, "A self-professed Catholic

"whose actions are contrary tothe teaching of the Church."

- To have a Catholic who ispresenting himself, or herself,

for a communion whilepublicly in open dissent

the teachings of the Church,

this is the source ofconfusion for people.

And for the bishops, thisis a teaching moment.

It's an important teaching moment.

- Well, here with us now ofmore is Father Thomas Reese.

He's a Jesuit Catholic priest

and senior analyst atReligion News Service.

Father, thank you again for being with us.

The Catholic bishops in theUnited States meet in June

for their next annual meeting.

Where do bishops stand on howto deal with President Biden?

- Well, the bishops are clearly unhappy

with President Biden'sposition on abortion.

They have been veryclear in their position

and what they have been saying about this.

But the the whole communionquestion here is something else

and that is a story thatkeeps popping up periodically,

but really, frankly, hasvery little foundation.

The Bishops Conference,which meets in June,

has absolutely no authorityto tell President Biden

that he cannot go to communion.

Under Canon Law, they donot have that authority.

Cardinal Ratzinger, when hewas head of the congregation

for Doctrine of theFaith under John Paul II,

made very clear that Bishops Conferences

have only limited authority.

The only person that has authority

over who goes to communion in his diocese

is the local bishop.

So for Washington, DC, thatis Cardinal Wilton Gregory,

who has made clear thathe is going to allow

President Biden to go to communion.

- Even so, can PresidentBiden have it both ways?

Can he be a Catholic andstill support abortion rights?

- Well, that's a questionwe'd have to also address

to over half of American Catholics

because we know from public opinion polls

that Catholics are in favorof legalized abortion.

You know, most Catholicsdon't like abortion,

and I think most Catholicsagree with the Church's teaching

that it's immoral.

But then there's the second question

about whether or not itshould be legal or not

and that's where most American Catholics,

including the president,disagree with the bishops.

And so this is a problem the bishops have

of how are they going toconvince their own flock,

let alone the American public,

of their position thatabortion should be illegal.

They got a real challengeahead of them to do that.

- Real quickly here, in aone-word answer, yes or no,

do you think that the Catholic bishops

can agree to disagree

with the president's position on abortion

but still work with him on other areas?

- Oh, absolutely.

The bishops are quite good at doing that.

Even during the Trump administration,

when they worked with him onabortion and gender issues,

they disagreed with him violently,

vocally-- Father Reese,

we are out of time-- On the issue of immigration.

- We are outta time, unfortunately.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

- Good to be with you.