WASHINGTON — The Senate chaplain prayed for former President Joe Biden during his daily prayer on Monday morning, offering a rare moment in which the religious leaders specifically name politicians in their invocations.
“Lord, we pray that Your mercy and grace will sustain former President Joe Biden and his family,” Chaplain Barry Black said on the Senate floor. “We pray in your precious name, amen.”
The prayer comes just one day after Biden’s personal office announced he had been diagnosed with “an aggressive form” of prostate cancer which has spread to his bones. The diagnosis was made over the weekend when Biden visited his doctor after discovering a prostate nodule and reportedly experiencing urinary symptoms.
While his diagnosis has been described as aggressive, the cancer “appears to be hormone-sensitive,” which his office said would allow for “effective management.”
The Senate chaplain is an official elected position within Congress, tasked with opening each legislative session with a prayer and providing spiritual counseling and guidance to lawmakers and congressional staff. The chaplain also hosts a weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast.
The Office of the Chaplain is designed to be nonpartisan and nonsectarian. All official Senate chaplains have been members of the Christian denomination, according to the Chaplain website, but guest chaplains have belonged to “many of the world’s major religious faiths.”
The Senate chaplain has a counterpart in the House, who completes all the same duties for the other chamber.