In January 2021, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter to the newly inaugurated President Biden. The letter congratulated Biden but also called attention to his record on abortion. Some, including Cardinal Blase Cupich, considered the letter ill-advised, but I think that, in view of their prophetic office, the bishops were right to offer pastoral correction. Of course, unlike Biden, President Donald Trump is not a Catholic, but the bishops and lay Catholics should now be ready to call him to account, too. They could write a letter that welcomes the new president but also challenges him on several fronts—among them, his disregard for the poor, his increasingly ambiguous statements about abortion, his anti-democratic rhetoric and actions, and, most urgently, his targeting of immigrants and refugees.
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