Pope names new bishop for Biden’s Delaware diocese

Pope Francis named a new bishop for President Joe Biden’s Delaware diocese on Friday.

Vicar for clergy Monsignor William Koenig at the Rockville Center, N.Y., diocese will be moving to Wilmington, Del., to replace Bishop Francis Malooly, The Associated Press reported.

Biden, a professed Catholic, attends mass at his home in Delaware and in Washington, D.C. 

Biden is the second Catholic president in history to be inaugurated, behind former President Kennedy. 

Malooly, 77, is retiring and 64-year-old Koenig will take over his position.

Koenig became a bishop in 1983 and is a Queens, N.Y., native.

Malooly and Koenig will hold a press conference on Friday amid debate among Catholic bishops over whether the president should receive communion due to his stance on abortion.

The Committee on Doctrine for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is working on a document that would say politicians who are pro-abortion rights or publicly advocate for abortion rights should not take communion. 

The bishops will meet in June and vote on the document. A two-thirds majority vote is needed for the document to be approved.

Biden’s churches in Delaware and D.C. have both allowed the president to take communion, and have said that they will continue to do so.