Joe Biden, the new president of the United States, is determined to install his stamp on the management, also in terms of the election of those who will be part of his cabinet at the level of the executive departments, a total of fifteen, to which eight must be added key positions in its administration. All of them, with the exception of the vice president, Kamala Harris (56 years old and daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India), have to be ratified by the Senate. Outside of this legal requirement, Biden nominated a very diverse team, in which less than half of them are white, there are four Latinos, six African Americans, three Asian Americans, and gender parity.
However, one of the uncommon characteristics in United States government teams is the supremacy of civil servants who perceive themselves as faithful Catholics, like the president, the second Catholic to reach the White House after John Kennedy. Although no one could say that the fact that they confess Catholics is the argument for having been summoned, it can be verified that eight are catholic a number greater than five Jews and two Baptists, without taking into account those who prefer not to publicly expose their confessional preferences.
In this sense Biden also differs from its predecessor Donald Trump, who four years ago won the presidency with the support of the white evangelical vote and that later he summoned many representatives of that community to the cabinet. At first glance that religious group does not appear represented now in the cabinet of the new president.
Joe Biden comes from a family in which he was raised in the principles of Catholicism, he is a faithful who regularly attends weekly Mass, assiduously exhibits his Catholic status, makes references to biblical texts in his speeches and expresses his admiration for the Pope Francisco and coincidences with the magisterium of Jorge Bergoglio in several of his encyclicals. In keeping with his religious outlook and regardless of his personal confessional alignment, one decision the new president must confirm is the reopening of the White House Office of Community and Religious Associations that Trump had closed.
The list of Catholics in the cabinet includes Lloyd Austin (Defense); Tom Vilsack (Agriculture); Marty Walsh (Work); Deb Haaland (Interior); Xavier Becerra (Health); Jennifer Granholm (Energy); Gina Raimondo (Commerce) and Denis McDonough (Veterans Affairs). To this list must be added the former Secretary of State, John Kerry, who will occupy the position of Special Envoy for Climate, a responsibility also of ministerial rank.
In number Catholics are followed by the Jews: Antony Blinken (Secretary of State); Janet Yellen (Hacienda); Alejandro Mayorkas (National Security); Merrick Garland (Attorney General) and Avril Haines (Director of National Intelligence). Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge are baptists.
In one of his first formal events as president-elect, Biden was accompanied by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Washington. It was to remember the 400 thousand victims in the United States as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. Gregory was appointed cardinal last November by Pope Francis. During a television interview in which Biden himself participated in December, he reported that The cardinal called him to congratulate him on his electoral victory and sent him a copy of the Pope’s latest book, Let Us Dream, signed by Bergoglio and which the pontiff handed over to Gregory upon his return from the Vatican.
“There has never been a more Catholic administration in US history.. “, said the Director of the Bernardin Center of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Steven Millies, as recorded by the journalist Christopher White, from the Catholic Reporter (NCR), in a note referring precisely to the presence of Catholics in Biden’s team.
[email protected]
– .
