Biden as 2nd Catholic president to offer refresh in church's political role

The Roman Catholic Church is more diverse and more divided than it was 60 years ago

Running to become the first Catholic president of the United States in 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy told an audience of wary Protestant ministers that “if the time should come … when my office would require me to violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office.”

 

Sixty years later, Joe Biden has become the second Roman Catholic to win the White House, and some prominent Catholics and bishops now appear to believe that the only way a Catholic should hold office is by putting conscience before