Joe Biden says he won’t be attending the 2021 Notre Dame commencement because of a “scheduling conflict” — but the real “conflict” seems to be that no one wants him there. More than 4,300 students and alumni signed a letter demanding that Joe Biden not be invited to the ceremony at all.

“We, the undersigned members of the Notre Dame community and others dismayed by the pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty agenda of President Joe Biden, having learned from your Crux interview that you are considering inviting President Biden to be Commencement speaker and, accordingly, recipient of an honorary degree, write to urge that you not do so,” says the letter, addressed to Father John Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame, The letter goes on to cite many reasons why Biden should not be present:

Biden is such a person writ large. He rejects Church teachings on abortion, marriage, sex and gender and is hostile to religious liberty. He embraces the most pro-abortion and anti-religious liberty public policy program in history. The case against honoring him is immeasurably stronger than it was against honoring President Obama, an action that alienated countless Catholics and brought upon Notre Dame the harsh criticism of 83 cardinals, archbishops and bishops.

We list in the Appendix Biden’s multiple policies and actions that threaten grievous harm to the Church, Notre Dame, Catholics and other persons of faith, and the unborn. More details are provided in a recent Sycamore Trust bulletin.

One main reason, naturally, is abortion. The letter says, noting that “this is not hyperbole, that “Biden’s actions already taken and those promised will result in the killing of countless innocent unborn both here and abroad through federal funding of abortions and abortion organizations.”

Biden, as the letter says, repeatedly claims to be Catholic, which makes matters worse — particularly with regard to his embrace of abortion, which is believed by the Church to be “morally wrong.” In fact, Biden is personally opposed to abortion but will promote and encourage it anyway for political purposes. This, the letter says is worse than the typical  “personally opposed but will not impose” stance taken by alleged Catholic politicians. ” It is singularly blameworthy to help people do what one knows to be wrong,” the students and alumni say.

“Notre Dame has long prided itself on its preeminent position in the educational world of the Church,” the letter concludes. “We suggest that its responsibility as such is to guard Church teachings that are crucially important in today’s society by conferring its honors upon those who support them rather than upon those who oppose them, especially the one person above all who has the will and the power to undermine them.”

Sure, Biden may say he has a “scheduling conflict” — but the truth is that no one wants him there. His presence would be an affront to the faith of true Catholics everywhere — at Notre Dame and beyond.