The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 168-55 on Friday in favor of drafting “a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church,” which could be used by church bishops to deny communion to politicians who support abortion. Last month, we noted that the bishops planned to consider such a formal statement, and they voted overwhelmingly to do so despite the Vatican advising against such action.

The vote was seen as a clear rebuke of leading Catholic Democrats like Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who dubiously claim to uphold the teachings of the church while fiercely working to undermine them, particularly in promoting abortion — even to the extent of advocating taxpayer funding of abortion. The vote approving the drafting of an official statement is the first step. Fox News reports, “The new Communion document isn’t finalized yet and at least two-thirds of the bishops would have to vote to adopt the language at their next gathering slated for November.”

Predictably, Democrat lawmakers reacted with heavy condemnation, charging the bishops with “weaponization of the Eucharist” in order to target Democrats. In an official statement from nearly 60 Democrat representatives, they urged the bishops “not to move forward and deny this most holy of all sacraments, the source and the summit of the whole work of the gospel, over one issue.”

Democrats didn’t stop there. These lawmakers sought to dictate to the Catholic bishops how they should act and what doctrines they should teach and believe. “No elected officials have been threatened with being denied the Eucharist as they support and have supported policies contrary to the Church teachings,” the lawmakers said, “including supporting the death penalty, separating migrant children from their parents, denying asylum to those seeking safety in the United States, limiting assistance for the hungry and food insecure, and denying rights and dignity to immigrants.” In other words, according to these Democrats, the bishops’ failure to aline church doctrine with the Democrats’ leftist political agenda makes them hypocrites. Whatever happened to the Left’s often-voiced “separation of church and state” dogma? Evidently, that myth only flows one direction.

Unlike the other Democrats, Biden retreated behind the “it’s personal” bromide. “Joe Biden is a strong man of faith,” insisted his press secretary, Jen Psaki. “As he noted just a couple of days ago, it’s personal. He goes to church, as you know, nearly every weekend.” She added, “He doesn’t see it through a political prism and we’re not going to comment otherwise on the inner workings of the Catholic Church.” And he’ll keep attending Mass.

Political prisms? Biden is the same bad Catholic who as a candidate promised to keep attacking nuns over ObamaCare birth control mandates. That’s because, contrary to Psaki’s assertion, Democrats see everything through a political prism.

Meanwhile, Pelosi, one of the biggest offenders of Catholic teaching against abortion, was unwilling to identify whether a 15-week-old unborn baby is a human being. When pressed by a reporter, Pelosi responded, “Let me just say that I’m a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I am a mother of five children in six years. I have some standing on this issue as to respecting a woman’s right to choose.”

The Democrats promoting abortion simply refuse to acknowledge or even consider the rights and lives of preborn children, which is exactly why these bishops voted to issue a public rebuke and warning to Catholic politicians advocating for the termination of innocent life in the womb. We certainly hope this serves as a wake-up call.

As a footnote, a new poll shows that three-quarters of professing Catholics believe that politicians who support abortion should be denied communion.