"I’d better show up or I’ll lose my soul..."
The leader of the American delegation to the Installation Mass of Pope Francis has stated that unless he attends a reception sponsored by the American Embassy to The Holy See (the Vatican) "I'll lose my soul," as reported by the pro-Christian news portal Life News on March 18, 2013.
During a meeting between the American Vice President Joe Biden and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Biden referenced attending a reception hosted by Mario Mesquita, the Charge d’Affaires [second in charge] of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, with American Cardinals, various Members of the U.S. Congress, officials from American Embassy to Italy, and the U.S. Mission to United Nations Agencies in Rome.
During the talk with President Nikolic, Biden stated:
"We invited the American cardinals to a reception.
So unless I’m prepared to join the Eastern Orthodox Church, as a Roman Catholic, I’d better show up or I’ll lose my soul."
Just Joe Being Joe...?
Unfortunately for Biden who maintains a "self-proclaimed devotion to the Catholic faith," absenting himself from an embassy reception does not place one soul's in danger of eternal damnation and hellfire.
Nor does the implying that the millions of adherents of the many branches of Eastern Orthodoxy would lose their souls.
The official teaching of Catholicism is that Eastern Orthodoxy maintains a valid priesthood as are all of the Sacraments they celebrate.
Furthermore, Catholicism teaches the following in regards to their Eastern brethren:
- 838 - The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter.
- Those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.
- With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist.
In regards to the Excommunication of 1054 when the Roman Pontiff and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople mutually excommunicated each other, the Encyclopedia Britannica cites:
"The excommunications were not lifted until 1965, when Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I, following their historic meeting in Jerusalem in 1964, presided over simultaneous ceremonies that revoked the excommunication decrees."
More of Joe Being Joe...
In what some consider Biden not taking his Catholicism seriously, he has a political career's worth of supporting abortion, despite admonishments from his own bishop.
Further evidenced by his stating at a 2005 political event:
"The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my Rosary down their throat." .
The Veep also has what many consider a penchant for exaggeration.
Case in point when he once told voters that his helicopter was "forced down" on "the superhighway of terror" by Afghan extremists.
When in reality, snow forced the pilot to land and wait out a storm.
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