- [Jenna] Tonight, holycommunion, abortion and politics,

U.S. Catholic bishops debate

put's America's second Catholic president

and other Catholicpoliticians in the cross hairs

of the Catholic church.

Plus the race to vaccinateAmericans, and...

- Deeply humbled by them.

- Former vice president,Mike Pence in the spotlight.

But where is President Trump?

All this and more tonight on Faith Nation.

(bright upbeat music)

President Biden's faithunder the spotlight again.

Welcome to Faith Nation,I'm Jenna Browder.

Today, U.S. Catholic bishopsoverwhelmingly voted in favor

of advancing a push todeny him his communion

over his support of abortion.

Let's get right to seniorWashington correspondent,

Tara Mergener, who's herewith more on that decision

just announced.

Tara.- Well, Jenna,

despite a warning from the Vatican,

73% of the bishops approvedthat measure to push a document

that could deny holy communion to Biden

and other pro-choice politicians.

Outcry over Biden'sposition, again revealing

a deep division within the church.

Here is what he said when areporter asked for his reaction

this afternoon.

- [Reporter] Are youconcerned about the rift

in the Catholic church?

And how do you feel personally about that?

- That's a private matter,

and I don't think that's gonna happen.

- [Tara] Catholic church policysays that any parishioner

in good standing canreceive communion at mass.

- If you receive the Eucharistin a state of grave sin,

you're doing yourselfvery grave spiritual harm.

- [Tara] But the debateover whether a vocal

political supporter ofabortion rights qualifies,

is growing.

- The church belongs to Jesus.

That's why I implore thepresident, please repent,

turn away from this error,and you know it's an error,

and be faithful to whatthe church teaches.

- [Tara] This week playingout at the U.S. conference

of Catholic bishops.

Attending mass eachSunday, rosary in hand,

President Joe Biden,has long put his faith

front and center.

- Faith is what has gotten me through

difficult times in my life.

- [Tara] While Biden's faith is celebrated

by his new DC church, PopeFrancis, and many news outlets...

- I support a woman's right to choose.

- [Tara] His position on abortion,

creating an increasingdivide among Catholics.

During a press briefingon Capitol Hill, Thursday,

Democratic house speaker, Nancy Pelosi,

dodged a reporter's question

about whether a 15 week unborn baby

constitutes a human being.

- [Reporter] Is an unborn babyat 15 weeks a human being?

- Let me just say that I'm abig supporter of Roe v. Wade.

I am a mother of fivechildren in six years,

I think I have some standing on this issue

as to respecting awoman's right to choose.

- [Tara] Since taking officeBiden has been targeting rules

that protect the unborn.

- If I believe healthcareis a right as I do,

I can no longer support anamendment that makes that right

dependent on someone's zip code.

- [Tara] In the eighties,Biden voted in favor

of a constitutionalamendment to allow states

to overturn Roe v. Wade.

And in the nineties hevoted against federal funds

for abortion, at least 50 times.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann,chairman of the U.S. conference

of Catholic bishops isamong those who fears

Biden is deliberately tryingto confuse the faithful.

- The American people havegiven him a lot of authority

and power, but one power he doesn't have

is to define what it means to be Catholic.

(no audio)

- Now, the text of theBishop's proposal itself

has not been written and wouldultimately require approval

by a two-thirds majority vote.

President Biden is thefirst Roman Catholic

to occupy the Oval Office in 60 years.

Jenna.

- All right, thank you, Tara.

And joining us now is Father Thomas Reese,

a Jesuit Catholic priestand senior analyst

at Religion News.

Father Reese, welcome,happy Friday to you.

So what do you think about this decision

from the U.S. bishops?

Is it what you expected?

- Well, it clearly indicatesthat a lot of bishops

are unhappy with Catholicpoliticians who are pro-choice

and they wanna do something about it.

Some of them want to punishthem by denying communion

to these politicians.

Whether or not that'sactually gonna happen

still remains to be seenbecause under church law

only the local bishophas the right to do that.

This cannot be done on a national level

by the bishops conference.

- The Vatican sent a letterwarning the American bishops

not to take this step.

Does that mean anything oris it really just a warning?

- Well, I think it shows thatthe Vatican is very concerned

about the divisions withinthe bishops conference.

The Vatican never likes itwhen the bishops are arguing

in public and divided.

It's kinda like they're telling them,

don't argue in front of thechildren, to the parents.

And so they don't like that.

The second thing they don't like is that,

well if the Americanbishops go down this route,

what does it say about thechurch in the rest of the world,

which does not have this policy

and does not have any interestin going in this direction.

That would mean that Bidencould be denied communion

in parts of the United States,

he could go to Rome andreceive communion there.

It's very confusing tohave this kind of disunity

in the Catholic church.

- But you see, the vote was 168 to 55,

in favor of denying Biden communion.

You know, the Catholic churchdoes not wanna see this

division played out inpublic, but Father Reese,

is there real divisionwithin the Catholic church?

- Well, first, you know,I have to emphasize

that the vote was not ondenying Biden communion.

The vote was on whether ornot they were gonna have

a document that might discuss this issue.

So we're a long way from denying Biden

or any other Catholicpolitician, communion.

But I think the vote,you're absolutely right,

the vote was overwhelming.

Most of us on both sides ofthe argument among the bishops,

most of the bishops thoughtthe vote was gonna be

much closer.

I mean, this indicates thatif all of these bishops

that voted for this document

are in favor of denying communion,

then they've got theirtwo-thirds vote right there.

- Yeah, how do you thinkPresident Biden feels about this?

We know we heard a soundbitefrom him addressing a reporter,

he said it's a private matter,

but still, do you thinkthat President Biden cares

that the U.S. bishops voted like this?

- Well, I can't get insidethe mind of the President,

but clearly this is a man whogoes to church every Sunday.

You know, even when he was inBritain for the G7 meeting,

he took time to go to church on Sunday

and the local parish was really surprised,

they had the presidentof the United States

in this tiny little parish in Britain.

So he is a man who is very devout

in his practice of religion.

But also remember if youpoll the American Catholics,

the vast majority of themare against using communion

as a weapon in the abortionwars or in any other battles,

including a majority ofRepublican Catholics,

oppose using communion inthis kind of weaponized way.

So the bishops, if they go this direction,

they're gonna have to not only convince

the Catholic politicians,

they're gonna have toconvince the Catholic laity.

- Yeah, all right, FatherThomas Reese, thank you so much.

Joining us from California today.

We appreciate you doing that.

- Good to be with you.

- Meanwhile, the Faithand Freedom Coalition's

Road to Majority Conference,is underway in Florida.

A number of speakers havealready taken to the stage,

most notably, former vicepresident, Mike Pence,

who received mixed reaction.

Here with us now, is CBNWhite House correspondent,

Eric Philips.

Eric, not the warmestwelcome for the former VP?

- Not at all, Jenna, andif today was a litmus test

on how the former vicepresident is being received now

by the party's base, itcertainly was not a pass

with all flying colors.

There were some 3,000 peopleexpected at the conference,

and while most of themseemed receptive to Pence,

there are obviously Trump loyalists

who continue to hold a grudge.

♪ We lift up your name, King Jesus ♪

Though an atmosphere ofpraise and worship was set

at the beginning of the day,

when the session's headliner,former vice president,

Mike Pence, took to the stage, it shifted.

- I'm deeply humbled by them.

- [Eric] A few hecklers escorted out

as Pence continued with his speech

in which he touched on a number of issues

including the highlycontroversial Critical Race Theory

Republicans are rallying against.

- Critical Race Theory teaches children

as young as kindergarten to beashamed of their skin color.

Critical Race Theory isracism, pure and simple.

(audience applauding)

And it should be rejected byevery American of every race.

- [Eric] Pence also addressed the problem

at the southern border.

- And yes, it's past time forour current vice president

to go to the border, put ourpolicies back into effect

and end the Biden border crisis today.

- [Eric] The former VPdecried America's stance

in the latest conflictbetween Israel and Hamas.

- President Biden has replacedstrength with weakness,

moral clarity with confusion,and loyalty with betrayal.

- [Eric] Former president,Trump, will not appear

at the conference, somethingFaith and Freedom head,

Ralph Reed, talked about on Faith Nation.

- We look forward tohaving him in the future,

and he was invited andhe's always welcome.

- [Eric] Some hardly considerPence to be a good consolation

beyond the heckling, thereare comments like this

on Faith and Freedom's Facebook page.

"Pence speaking? Seriously?

Most Christ-believingpatriots consider him

a Benedict Arnold to our party."

Still Pence pushed on,trying to galvanize the base,

looking forward to midterm elections

and ultimately 2024.

- So the time is now forfreedom-loving patriots

here and across thenation to stand together

and unite behind our provenagenda and win America back.

(audience cheering)

- Pence also said we don't need to defund

but to defend the police.

Other notables who tookpart in the conference today

include senators, Ted Cruz,Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham.

And Saturday, the conference will hear

from Florida governor, Rick DeSantis,

who is widely considered to bea rockstar among Republicans.

Jenna.

- White House correspondent,Eric Philips, thank you.

And here with us now is Paris Dennard,

GOP national spokesperson

and director of black media affairs.

Paris, welcome and thankyou for joining us.

You know Vice President Pence,heckled during his speech,

what does this say abouthis standing as a leader

within the Republican Party?

- First of all, thank you for having me.

Look, I think that thisRepublican Party is more united,

more diverse and more enthusiastic

about winning themajority back in Congress.

And when you look at someonelike Vice President Pence,

there are some people within our party

who have a differences ofopinion about the election

and even Vice President Pence said

that he's spoken to PresidentTrump multiple times,

and that he doesn't thinkthat they will ever see

eye to eye.

One thing that we can be united on,

is the fact that Vice PresidentPence and President Trump

worked together, withPresident Trump at the head

diversifying our party andenacting a lot of things

that many conservativesand many people of faith

can be proud of, meaningopportunities zones,

standing up for life, and doing things

that really enabled us tobe proud to be Americans

and proud to be Americans of faith,

especially when it comesto the court system

and all of the conservative judges

that he put on the federal bench

and also the three in the Supreme Court.

So we have a lot to celebrate

as it relates to theTrump-Pence administration.

And as we look forward to the majority,

winning back the majorityin the 2022 midterms,

we are on the path in the right direction

because we're unitedand we're more diverse

because of the Trump-Pence administration.

- Paris, to your point,everybody is looking to 2022,

what do Republicans need todo to win back the majority

in the midterms?

- Well, one of the things that we're doing

at the Republican National Committee

is being intentional on our engagement

and engaging with diverse audiences.

I was so proud to behere representing the RNC

on a panel today, I just finished up,

and I have a paneltomorrow on the main stage.

And I look at that crowdand I see so many people

of diverse backgrounds,young people, minorities,

women, senior citizens, it isa representation of America.

And what we have to dois register to vote,

we have to make sure that weare voting in every election

and that we get ourneighbors, our family members,

our parishioners and fellow church goers,

all to come out and voteand vote Republican.

In addition to that, theRepublican National Committee

and other organizations are very focused

on the issue of election integrity

and making sure that we get the laws

that the Democrats are tryingto put on the American system

out and not happen.

HR1 and S1, and otherthings that are being done

at a state level that aregonna be totally disruptive

to election integrity.

So we have to fight for that as well.

- All right, Paris Dennard,national spokesperson

for the GOP, we thank youfor your time this evening.

Have a great weekend.

- Thank you so much.

- [Jenna] And coming up,conservatives praising

the Supreme Court's decision

siding with a Catholic foster care agency.

Coming up, why some sayit didn't go far enough.

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- The Supreme Court decisionsiding with a Catholic group

over same-sex foster care services

is revealing a division amongconservatives on the court.

Three of the moreconservative-leaning justices,

wanted the court to go biggerby ruling on a precedent

established more than30 years ago in the case

Employment Division v. Smith,

which many consider to be ablow to religious freedom.

Rather than tackling a broader question

about religious exercise,the narrow ruling

that a Catholic foster careagency does not have to violate

any religious beliefs by handing over kids

to same-sex married couples,

applies only to the city of Philadelphia.

Here with us now is RyanBomberger, chief creative officer

and co-founder of the Radiance Foundation,

and an exclusive columnistat the Christian Post.

Ryan, good evening and welcome.

What do you think, shouldthe Supreme Court have gone

further in making this a broader ruling

in terms of religious exercise?

- Yeah, the Supreme Court often makes

supremely wrong decisions.

I mean, they kind of createa mess and they compound it.

The fact that they only ruled for

Catholic Social Services in Philly,

was a ridiculous waste of time.

I mean, the principle, theFirst Amendment applies

to all situations, sothey could have protected

all faith-based adoption agencies

and that is definitely my concern.

But they did rule rightin this particular case.

- So, because it wasn't broader,

do you think we'll seemore cases like this

going to the Supreme Court?

- Absolutely, we'llhave to keep coming back

because the Supreme Courtrefuses to actually do their job

in interpreting the constitution.

And so this case shouldhave more broadly applied

to all religious charities,to all faith-based agencies,

because it will inevitably get back,

because you have the ACLU and Lambda Legal

that are trying soaggressively to shut down

faith-based adoptionagencies across the country.

- So Ryan, tell us aboutthe decision 30 years ago,

the Smith case, how did thataffect religious freedom?

- Well, here, again is theproblem with the Supreme Court,

because when they madethe ruling in Smith,

they didn't go far enough with that.

They ruled the wrong way,

it didn't allow the FirstAmendment of the constitution

to actually shine through inleaving some of that ambiguity.

So instead of protecting religious liberty

as a constitutional foundationalright, they left it open,

which is why you have thesecases continually coming back

to the Supreme Court.

And so this is again, another...

I mean, this is anotherprecedent that they're setting

by failing to actually say, look,

here is what the First Amendment says,

here is your religiousliberty, your free speech,

your freedom of association.

Here is that protection,

here is that foundational principle,

And this applies broadly.

And I feel like they'rekind of repeating history

by failing to do that,and to do that explicitly,

the way they should have been.

Alito alluded to this in his opinion,

because of the narrow win,the narrow victory here,

the narrow definition ofthis particular ruling,

it's just the Supreme Courtdoes this over and over again.

It's like, why repeat the same work?

The constitutional principlehas existed for a long time

and it will exist tomorrowand it should exist

as long as America exists,

and they failed, I think, in their duty.

- Father's Day, this weekend,

we know you come froma large family of 15.

Tell us about your ownexperience, Ryan, with foster care

and adoption and how it'simportant to faith-based agencies.

- Yes, I'm a father of four,two of my kiddos are adopted.

I was loved so much by my own dad

who recently passed away in January.

It was the hardest thingin my life to deal with,

the worst pain I've ever experienced.

But I will tell you this,faith-based adoption agencies

made my family possible.

My family of 15, I have 12siblings, 10 of us were adopted.

We wouldn't have existedwithout the incredible

life-affirming work offaith-based adoption agencies.

So my parents had threebiological children,

adopted 10 of us, andbecause faith-based agencies,

were able to live out andpractice their religious beliefs,

the Bomberger family was possible.

So, you know, a family ofwhite, black, native American,

Vietnamese, I mean you've had opposition

to trans-racial adoption, buthad it not been for the work

of these faith-based adoptions,

our family wouldn't lookthe way that it looks.

And so I'm really gratefulfor the work of faith-based

adoption agencies.

And I love that my parentsloved all of us, all 13 kids

into our God-given purpose.

- Well, we are very sorryto hear about your father,

but it sounds like he leftan incredible legacy behind

and was a wonderful man.

Ryan Bomberger, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- [Jenna] And when we come back,

the White House race to vaccinate

70% of Americans by Independence Day.

Can they do it?

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- Countdown to the 4th of July.

Tonight the White House race to vaccinate

70% of all Americans byJuly 4th is in full swing.

Today at the White House,President Biden praised the effort

marking 300 million vaccinedoses administered in 150 days.

- We're heading into avery different summer

compared to last year, a bright summer,

prayerfully a summer of joy.

And the truth is thatdeaths and hospitalizations

are drastically down in places

where people are getting vaccinated,

but unfortunately, casesand hospitalizations

are not going down in many places

in the lower vaccination rate states

- To date, 600,000 Americanshave died due to COVID-19,

more than the numberof American casualties

in the two world warsand Vietnam combined.

The President issued a specific warning

against the rise of aDelta variant of the virus

imploring Americans to get vaccinated.

Overseas, a nearly uncontestedpresidential election

in Iran is expected to result in a victory

for a hard line ultraconservative candidate.

Ebrahim Raisi, an Iranian judiciary chief

currently under U.S. imposed sanctions,

is expected to sail to victory.

Polls ahead of today's election,predicted a low turnout

of less than 50% aftermoderate Iranian voters

viewing the election asa foregone conclusion

plan to stay home.

Still ahead, see the sun like never before

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- Finally, tonight, incelebration of the upcoming

summer solstice, NASA isgiving us a closer look

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The United States PostalService is rolling out

a new set of forever stamps.

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This comes as NASA preparesto capture the summer solstice

and the start of a brandnew solar cycle next week.

And that does it for FaithNation, have a wonderful weekend,

and to the fathers outthere, happy Father's Day.