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Earlier this year, I attended a St. Patrick’s Day gathering for Catholic leaders in the East Room of the White House. One moment from that day remains burned into my mind: President Joseph R. Biden Jr., sitting just a few tables away, his eyes watery, as the United States Army Band played an all-strings rendition of “On Eagle’s Wings.” The moment felt more elegiac than celebratory. Mr. Biden showed his age that morning, and it felt to many in the room that we were witnessing the beginning of the end of a certain era in Democratic politics.
There may be more Catholics elected president after Joe Biden. But a Catholic politician, raised in a church energized by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, who sees the Democratic Party as the best means to serve the poor, feels unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.
The venue, the pomp and the reverence displayed toward the president inside the White House was palpable. To be in the presence of the president of the United States, in that historic room, is one of those moments that I know will stick with me forever. As I recounted the day to friends and family, I noted how I could only imagine how seductive that life must be for the person who holds the power of the presidency.
Mr. Biden’s critics say that the president’s desire to hold on to power blinded him to the reality that stepping down would be in the best interest of the country. But today’s decision by President Biden not to seek re-election, to relinquish another shot at holding on to power because, as he said, he believes not running is best for his party and his country, is, even if it came slower than some would have liked, an act of heroic humility.
When I received a text from my sister Sunday afternoon telling me that Mr. Biden had dropped out of the race, my mind immediately shot back to the early morning hours of Feb. 11, 2013, when another Catholic leader, Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world by announcing that he would voluntarily resign his post.
Back then, I was shocked that the pope would step down from the Chair of St. Peter. Scandals were plentiful and the pope was aging, but for a person who spent his life near power and finally attained it to then give it up freely just did not feel natural. But that is what made it so remarkable. For Pope Benedict to acknowledge that he no longer possessed what was needed to lead the church was an historic decision for a pope. Even those who did not always admire his leadership offered praise for his humility. (In September, J.D. Long García argued in America that both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden should follow Benedict’s lead and retire.)
Though President Biden and Pope Benedict shared a common faith, their ideological worldviews were quite different. Still, they shared some similarities. They each devoted their lives to service, each spent decades working to improve important institutions, and each attained power late in their lives.
The circumstances are very different, but surely even Mr. Biden’s political opponents must concede that the president’s decision to step away from power is an example worthy of emulation.
Democratic critics may say that Mr. Biden waited too long to make this decision, that his initial decision to run for re-election was selfish and short-sighted, and that he should have stood down immediately after his poor performance in the June 27 debate. Some of that criticism may be warranted, and political scientists and strategists will debate his timing for years to come. But Mr. Biden’s insistence that he would remain in the race and that only the “Lord Almighty” could make him withdraw shows how costly and painful his decision to leave must have felt for him. In Mr. Biden’s decision is an acknowledgment, however implicit, that he had been stubborn about his determination to stay in the race. Admitting that one may have been wrong is never easy, especially not on a global stage.
Mr. Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris just minutes after announcing that he would not seek the nomination, and he said he would speak to the nation later this week. Much uncertainty remains, during an especially precarious moment in the life of our nation. And while the media will rightfully turn to the unprecedented political developments that lay ahead, Mr. Biden’s humility is surely worth a few moments of reflection.
Correction, July 21:This article originally misidentified the composer of “On Eagles's Wings” as the St. Louis Jesuits. The hymn was written by Michael Joncas.
