The American president was attending the opening ceremony of a cultural center dedicated to the history of LGBT rights in North America.

After his speech, the famous singer and master of ceremonies, Elton John, mentioned the threat of a rollback of gay rights if Donald Trump were to be reelected, ending his intervention with an expletive.

Biden then laughed out loud and made the sign of the cross, as if he regretted letting a laugh slip.

This untimely sign of the cross, in a context that was not religious, is not the first of its kind from Biden.

On several occasions, the Catholic president has surprised his audience by signing himself this way, raising questions among some faithful about a possible lack of respect for their shared faith.

A president accustomed to blessing himself

In 2012, while participating in a rabbinic congress in Atlanta, Biden blessed himself amid the audience's laughter when the presenter referred to his 36 years of experience as a senator from Delaware, an ironic way for Biden to react to his longevity in that position.

The same happened at the UN last September when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned before the press, in the presence of the American president, their 40-year friendship.

Finally, in April, Biden attended a meeting organised in support of abortion rights in Florida.

Following a somewhat clumsy joke from the leader of the Florida Democrats to Ron De Santis, the state's Republican governor, and former Trump rival, Biden laughed, immediately followed by a sign of the cross.

A hindrance to Biden's vote?

Among Biden's Catholic electorate, associating the sign of the cross with speeches on controversial subjects is far from trivial.

After the Florida episode, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield (Illinois) reacted, stating that making the sign of the cross at such an event related to promoting abortion rights amounted to "mocking the Catholic faith."

These episodes have fueled an already recurrent controversy over the American president's faith, with some bishops questioning his religious convictions and his standing in the church in light of his political positions. 4

Commenting on the 2020 campaign, the former bishop of Providence (Rhode Island) stated on X (formerly Twitter) that it was the "first time in a while that the Democratic ticket hasn't had a Catholic on it."

How to interpret these signs of the cross?

For Blandine Chélini-Pont, a specialist in American Catholicism and a professor of contemporary history at Aix-Marseille University, had this to say:

"these gestures by Biden are not religious, except to represent the contrition of a believing man," who conjures up "having laughed at vulgarity or an inappropriate word."

Massimo Faggioli, a historian of Catholicism and professor at Villanova University, and a regular contributor to La Croix International, said he believed that:

"these gestures say nothing about Biden's consideration for the Catholic faith and its faithful, but speak much more about an electoral context where every micro-gesture can be used against the incumbent president."

According to Faggioli, the American president's blunder is "thinking there is still room for irony in American public debate," especially when this irony relies on religious gestures.

• First published in La Croix
• Clémence Rebora is a journalist at La Croix

Other religions have similar practices, and it is difficult not to see in certain Jewish traditions the prefiguration of this particular Christian symbol, a physical, outward manifestation of a spiritual attitude.

It is likely that this practice appeared very early in the history of Christianity, and it is striking that its evolution has followed that of the Church.

The tradition that has prevailed in the West and is customary among Latin Catholics is to make the Sign of the Cross by moving the fingers from top to bottom, then from left to right.

Certain cultures join the five fingers, evoking the five wounds of Christ. But this custom is relatively recent and likely differs from the primitive practice, which is still prevalent in the Eastern Christian world.

Indeed, in the beginning, Christians crossed themselves from top to bottom and then from right to left.

The thumb, forefinger and middle finger were joined, evoking the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, while the ring finger and the little finger folded against the palm of the hand evoke the two natures — human and divine — of Christ.

Like a blessing

The oriental and primitive tradition thus reproduces the gesture of the blessing given by the clergy as in a mirror: the blessing given by the priest or the bishop reproduces the gesture of Christ figured on Byzantine icons, where the thumb of the hand that blesses joins the ring finger, the index finger is upwards, the middle finger and the little finger slightly folded.

Thus the hand of the priest forms the first letters of the words Jesus Christ in Greek — IC and XC — while recalling the association of the three persons of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ.

The hand that blesses thus traces the Sign of the Cross toward the faithful from top to bottom and from left to right.

This movement, which is always that of the blessings given by the clergy in the East as in the West alike, is probably that which has been used from the earliest times. Continue reading

Sources

• Aleteia article by Valentin Fontan-Moret
• Image: El Mensajero

While it may appear that some Catholics make it superstitiously, it was never intended to be done in such a way.

According to writings that date back to the 3rd century, Christians have been making the sign of the cross over their bodies from the very beginning.