John F. Kennedy funeral website .. Why did Joe Biden choose to pray at St. Matthew's Church
In the winter of 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt entered the Church of St. John with his right foot, to attend his inauguration, accompanied by the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.
Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to attend Mass at St. John's Church on Inauguration Day, and after that, attending Mass became a ritual observed by every new elected President of the United States, and the Mass also attended by the Vice President-elect, cabinet-appointed ministers, and their wives.
The US President-elect, Joe Biden, is preparing to attend the Mass inside St. Matthew's Church, not only because it has a long history, but because it embraced many important moments. Pope Francis visited the United States in 2015. Rejection of "harsh and divisive language."
Saint Matthew was also the funeral site for former US President John F. Kennedy, as the church was part of the funeral process for President John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president, after his assassination in 1963. After Kennedy lay in the state in the US Capitol, his body was returned to the White House and then transferred to St. Matthew, where many of the world's VIPs sat.
It was also the funeral site for the late Chief Justice William Reinquist, in 2005 the cathedral hosted a Mass for the late Chief Justice William Reinquist. The legal colossus was a Lutheran rather than a Catholic, but the service was permitted due to a clause allowing the use of Catholic sites for non-Catholic rituals.
It hosts the prestigious "Red Mass" every year, which is a Mass that takes place on the first Sunday in October for lawyers and judges. While the Red Mass is celebrated across the Catholic world, the Washington recurrence is known to attract notable figures such as Supreme Court justices - including Rehnquist, who has missed the Red Mass only twice in 33 years in court.
The cathedral is also home to the Bishops' Crypt, which is exactly what it looks like: a place where prominent Catholic clergy are put to rest. According to its website, it includes the remains of at least two former Archbishops of Washington: Cardinal Patrick Opole and Cardinal James Hickey, who was buried there in 2004.
