Almost 2,000 Notre Dame University students and alumni have signed a petition urging the school’s outgoing president, Father John Jenkins, to rescind the Laetare Medal awarded in 2106 to then-Vice President Joe Biden.
The Laetare Medal is conferred annually by Notre Dame “in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society.” American political leaders who have received the award in the past include President John F Kennedy, Al Smith, Ed Muskie, Sargent Shriver, and Tip O’Neill.
”Whatever the warrant for the award at that time, Biden as President has become the most formidable adversary of the Catholic Church on abortion, the very issue the nation’s bishops, in their guide to Catholic voters, have consistently declared their “preeminent priority,” the petition reasons.