前副总统乔·拜登周六，他成为第二位当选总统的天主教徒，并很快在白宫唤起了他对未来的信念。
一些著名的美国天主教领袖在周末欢迎当选总统时赞扬了这一历史性时刻。
拜登在周六晚上的胜利演说中，经常参加弥撒，并长期公开自己的信仰，引用了《圣经》中的《传道书》3:1-3。
“对任何事物来说，都有一个季节:建造的时候，收获的时候，播种的时候，治愈的时候，”他说。“这是美国痊愈的时候了。”
吉姆·沃森/法新社通过盖蒂图像
他还引用天主教圣歌《在鹰的翅膀上》来结束他的演讲，以强调他的团结和治愈的信息。
他说:“现在，我们一起在鹰的翅膀上，怀着对美国和彼此的信心，对国家的热爱，对正义的渴望，全心全意、坚定不移地开始上帝和历史召唤我们去做的工作。”让我们成为我们知道自己能够成为的国家--一个团结的国家，一个强大的国家，一个被治愈的国家。"
詹姆斯·马丁神父在民主党全国代表大会上致闭幕词，并担任教皇方济各的顾问，发微博拜登对这首赞美诗的使用让他的手机“嗡嗡作响”
他在推特上写道:“这不仅意味着四年的天主教总统任期，还意味着以一种自JFK以来可能从未有过的方式将#天主教文化注入我们的全国对话。”。
约翰·肯尼迪在1960年当选时成为第一位天主教总统。
拜登在参议院任职和担任副总统期间，推动了同性合法婚姻等包容性政策和增加对穷人的援助等进步目标。教皇弗朗西斯宣扬了类似的理想，最近表明了他的支持同性恋公民联盟打破了天主教传统。
2015年，拜登告诉耶稣会周刊《美国杂志》，他分享了很多教皇的教义。
“他是我从小接受的天主教社会教义的化身，”拜登这样评价弗朗西斯。“每个人都有权享有尊严，穷人应该得到特别的优待，你有义务伸出援手，包容各方。”
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教皇方济各受到巴拉克·奥巴马总统、第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马和副总统乔的迎接
尽管拜登的总统竞选具有历史意义，但他并没有在天主教选民中获得压倒性胜利，根据美国广播公司新闻的出口民调。根据民意调查，在今年的选举中，大约51%的受访者认为自己是天主教徒，投了民主党的票。一些在堕胎等问题上与拜登意见相左的保守天主教徒投票支持唐纳德·特朗普总统。
去年，南卡罗来纳州的一名牧师拒绝拜登圣餐由于前副总统在堕胎问题上的立场。
然而，拜登在周六被宣布为选举获胜者后，受到了天主教领导人的赞扬。
天主教社会正义游说团体网络的负责人兼“公交车上的修女”的领导人西蒙·坎贝尔修女在一份声明中说，天主教徒不是单一问题的选民。
“我们的社区着眼于唐纳德·特朗普他选择选举领导人，这些领导人将以同情和关心最边缘化的人的方式执政。她在一份声明中说:“天主教徒拒绝种族主义、仇恨和分裂，拥护教皇弗朗西斯倡导的政治——一种爱和包容的政治。”。
代表全国所有主教的美国天主教主教会议也在一份声明中祝贺拜登和当选副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯，并呼吁美国人团结一致。
安吉拉·维斯/法新社，通过盖蒂图像
当选总统乔·拜登(左)抵达位于威斯康星州的白兰地酒罗马天主教堂的圣约瑟夫
声明称:“民主要求我们所有人都以美德和自律的方式行事。”。“这要求我们尊重意见的自由表达，并以慈善和礼貌对待彼此，即使我们在法律和公共政策问题上的辩论可能存在严重分歧。”
Religious leaders welcome Joe Biden's election as 2nd Catholic to win presidency
Former Vice PresidentJoe Bidenon Saturday became the second Catholic to be elected president, and very quickly invoked his faith for his future in the White House.
Some prominent U.S. Catholic leaders praised the historic moment over the weekend as they welcomed the president-elect.
During his victory speech Saturday night, Biden -- who regularly attends mass and has long been open about his faith -- quoted Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 from the Bible.
"To everything there is a season: a time to build, a time to reap, and a time to sow and a time to heal," he said. "This is the time to heal in America."
He also ended his speech by quoting the Catholic hymn "On Eagle's Wings" to underscore his message of unity and healing.
"And now together on eagles' wings, we embark on the work that God and history have called us to do with full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with love of country, a thirst for justice," he said. "Let us be the nation that we know we can be -- a nation united, a nation strengthened, a nation healed."
Father James Martin, who delivered the closing benediction at the Democratic National Convention and serves as an adviser to Pope Francis,tweetedthat Biden's use of the hymn made his phone "buzz like crazy."
"This means four years of not only a Catholic president, but an injection of #Catholic culture into our national conversation in a way probably not seen since JFK," he tweeted.
John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic president when he was elected in 1960.
Over Biden's years in office in the Senate and as vice president, he has pushed for inclusive policies like legal same-sex marriage and progressive goals like increased aid to the poor.Pope Francishas promoted similar ideals, recently indicating hissupport for gay civil unionsin a break with Catholic tradition.
In 2015, Biden told the weekly Jesuit publication America Magazine that heshared a lot of the pope's doctrine.
"He's the embodiment of the Catholic social doctrine I was raised with," Biden said of Francis. "The idea that everyone is entitled to dignity, that the poor should be given special preference, that you have an obligation to reach out and be inclusive."
Despite the historic nature of his presidential run, Biden did not have a landslide victory with Catholic voters,according to ABC News' exit polls. Roughly 51% of respondents who identified as Catholic voted Democratic in this year's election, according to the poll. Some conservative Catholics who disagree with Biden on issues like abortion voted instead for President Donald Trump.
Last year, a priest in South Carolinadenied Biden communiondue to the former vice president's stance on abortion.
Biden, however, received commendations from Catholic leaders after he was declared the winner of the election Saturday.
Sister Simone Campbell, head of the Catholic social justice lobby group NETWORK and leader of "Nuns on the Bus," said in a statement that Catholics aren't one-issue voters.
"Our community looked at the entirety of Donald Trump's divisive and harmful record and chose to elect leaders who will govern with empathy and concern for the most marginalized. Catholics rejected racism, hatred and division and embraced the politics championed by Pope Francis -- a politics of love and inclusion," she said in a statement.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents all the nation's bishops, also congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in a statement and called for unity among Americans.
"Democracy requires that all of us conduct ourselves as people of virtue and self-discipline," the statement said. "It requires that we respect the free expression of opinions and that we treat one another with charity and civility, even as we might disagree deeply in our debates on matters of law and public policy."
