Joe Biden is out pulling rank.

In response to a little priest in South Carolina denying him Holy Communion for advocating pro-abortion positions inconsistent with Church teaching, the former vice president and Democratic Party presidential frontrunner made it clear he didn't deal with pipsqueaks.

Asked about the incident, Lifesite News reported Biden's response:

“It’s not a position that I’ve found anywhere else, including from the Holy Father, who gives me Communion.”

So instead of thinking about the priest's position and offering some kind of contemplative thought, Biden declared it was all O.K. to be advocating for abortion from his position, complete with public funding, because the pope gave him Communion. Despite the fact that even the pope is a priest and Communion is dispensed by priests with equal weight, even if a priest is tainted, Biden seems to be saying that because the pope gave him Communion instead of the priest, that proves the righteousness of his position.

In other words, he's got connections.

He completely sidestepped the issue the priest as concerned about, which was Biden's abortion advocacy under color of Catholicism. Instead of address that, he pulled rank, reminding everyone that he used to be vice president and he's still got connections.

Biden's response was roughly parallel to that of a Mafia don justifying himself after killing rivals on weekdays that he too deserves Communion on Sunday, (something the Church opposes) so he'll get it, too.

But it also had an elitist element. Who is this troublesome little priest to bother him when he's got the pope in his tree? As Joe Biden's trough-feeding through his son Hunter Biden has demonstrated, Joe's in good with the elites.

It's a risky move because it's something the pope might not appreciate, given the criticism he takes for his leftist ideas inside the Church. The pope actually has a pretty good pro-life record with his condemnation of "throwaway culture" including throwaway babies, as one of the few things he's been steadfast on. Now lefty pols like Biden are using him as their justification. Biden got communion from him? It's possible the pope didn't want to make a scene with the cameras on for a visiting dignitary, or that he didn't even know what Biden's positions were. Out on the Pontifex Twitter feed, the pope has so far kept quiet, but the odds are good he won't appreciate being used as a political shield, and Biden's arrogant rank-pulling might just force his hand.  

Even if it doesn't, the message from Biden is clear: He's got connections, so to heck with any truth a little priest speaking truth to power might say.