“I congratulate Joseph R. Biden Jr. on his elevation today to president of the United States, becoming only the second Catholic in American history to assume the presidency, and, like the nation’s first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, a recipient of Notre Dame’s highest honor, the Laetare Medal.
“In awarding the Laetare Medal in 2016 to then-Vice President Biden and former House Speaker John Boehner, I said, ‘Vice President Biden reminded his fellow Democrats that those in the other party are “our opponents, not our enemies.”’ May his leadership help quell the venomous enmity so prevalent in our nation today.
“We can only be encouraged by the auspicious beginning to inauguration day for President Biden, when he attended Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in the company of the House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders.
“I ask all in the Notre Dame community and persons of goodwill everywhere to pray for the new president and for America’s future.”
Originally published by at news.nd.edu on January 20, 2021.