When asked who they would vote for or who they are leaning toward if the election were held today, 52 percent of Catholics picked Mr. Biden and 47 percent chose Mr. Trump.

But the president performs better among white Catholics, with nearly six in 10, or 57 percent, saying they would vote for him, while 42 percent back Mr. Biden. Read more

"So honored by Archbishop Viganò's incredible letter to me. I hope everyone, religious or not, reads it!" Trump tweeted, linking to a letter which the controversial former papal nuncio addressed to him on Sunday.

With that tweet, Trump introduced Viganò to a wider audience and returned him to the fray of American politics.

Viganò's letter, written against the backdrop of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the protests after George Floyd's death, praises Trump for combating the "deep state," which Vigano alleges is trying to undermine the president.

"It is quite clear that the use of street protests is instrumental to the purposes of those who would like to see someone elected in the upcoming presidential elections who embodies the goals of the deep state and who expresses those goals faithfully and with conviction," Vigano wrote.

"It will not be surprising if, in a few months, we learn once again that hidden behind these acts of vandalism and violence there are those who hope to profit from the dissolution of the social order so as to build a world without freedom."

Viganò went on to praise Trump for participating in the March for Life, his defense of religious freedom and for his controversial visit to the St. John Paul II Shrine last week.

He also claimed that "civil disturbances" in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody were provoked by "deep state" operatives because "the virus is inevitably fading" and "the social alarm of the pandemic is waning."

Another of Viganò's allegations is the existence of a "deep church" within Catholicism made up of "mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves."

"They are subservient to the deep state, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a universal brotherhood which has nothing Christian about it, but which evokes the Masonic ideals of those who want to dominate the world by driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and perhaps even out of churches," Viganò wrote.

He claimed restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were part of a Masonic plot to establish a new world order.

Viganò dismissed recent protests against racism and police brutality across the U.S. and around the world, claiming they were an instrument used to influence the upcoming presidential elections and "build a world without freedom."

His letter to Trump was released four days after Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory denounced that visit, saying it was "baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles."

The letter was published on 6 June by LifeSiteNews, a regular sounding board for the pope's critics.

Source

• Washington Examiner
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: America Magazine

Their concerns follow a speech on religious freedom last week, where Barr said "militant secularists" were behind a "campaign to destroy the traditional moral order".

He claimed Catholicism and other mainstream religions were the target of "organized destruction" by "secularists and their allies among progressives who have marshalled all the force of mass communications, popular culture, the entertainment industry and academia".

Barr also said the US "traditional Judeo-Christian moral system" was under siege by "modern secularists" who were responsible for every sort of "social pathology", including drug abuse, rising suicide rates and illegitimacy.

A Catholic theologian and professor of religion, Colt Anderson, says Barr's speech is a "threat to American democracy".

It was a "dog whistle" to ultra-conservative Catholics who have aligned themselves to Donald Trump in a campaign to limit the rights of LGBTQ Americans, immigrants and non-Christians, especially Muslims, and to criminalize almost all abortions.

"The attorney general is taking positions that are essentially un-Democratic" because they demolish the wall between church and state, Anderson says.

Some Washington-based Justice Department Catholic employees are also concerned.

"I was shocked by the speech and all this fire and brimstone," one says.

"Trump is Barr's imperfect vessel in serving a much higher cause: the gospel," says another.

Although many Trump policies are strongly opposed by the Vatican, Barr did not address these.

Pope Francis's pleas for the US to open its doors to more refugees, for instance.

Barr defends policies that turn away or imprison immigrants seeking refugee status at the US-Mexico border, even separating parents from their children.

His speech is a reminder that while Trump enjoys the support of many high-profile right-wing Christian evangelical leaders, he is also surrounded by conservative Catholics who are associated with organisations other Catholics consider extreme.

However, many conservative religious commentators are positive about Barr's speech.

"Barr took the gloves off, saying that religion is not jumping to its death; it's being pushed," one says.

"As we religious conservatives think about how to vote in the election next fall, we should ponder the fact that under Donald Trump, as awful as he is in so many ways, a man of William Barr's convictions is heading up the Department of Justice."

Liberal Catholics, on the other hand, arLiberal Catholics say the US attorney general William Barr's Catholic faith is threatening the separation of church and state.

According to Pope Francis, speaking shortly after the meeting, it was an example of the "culture of encounter."

"In the last few hours we have witnessed a good example of the culture of encounter in Korea," Francis said Sunday.

"I greet the protagonists with the prayer that this significant gesture constitutes a further step on the path of peace. Not only on that peninsula but in favor of the whole world." Read more

He enraged pro-choice activists, and many senior Democrat colleagues, by confirming he was against the idea of the US government using taxpayers' money to fund abortion.

Mr Biden's campaign confirmed he backs the Hyde amendment, a 40-year-old law banning federal funding for abortion other than in cases of incest, rape, or to save the life of the mother.

The official position of the Democrat party, and every other Democrat presidential candidate, is that Hyde should be repealed. Read more