Biden’s rosary

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. (White House photo)

The New York Times is reporting that as U.S. military forces began their mission to kill or capture Osama bin Laden May 1, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “fingered his rosary beads” in the Situation Room of the White House.

It’s not the first time we have heard about Biden’s rosary. An Irish Catholic from Scranton, the vice president carries his rosary with him.  It is said that when he underwent brain surgery, he asked doctors if he could keep a rosary under his pillow. And, when he was exploring a run for the presidency in 2008, Biden famously said he would “shove his rosary beads down the throat” of any Republican who said he wasn’t religious.

Catholic Review

The Catholic Review is the official publication of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.