bishops was the most dramatic example of the conservative Catholic movement’s reach since Joseph R.

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis and President Biden, both liberals, are the two most high-profile Roman Catholics in the world.

But in the United States, neither of these men is determining the direction of the Catholic Church.

It is now a conservative movement that decides how the Catholic Church asserts its power in America.

It was the most dramatic example of the conservative Catholic movement’s reach since Mr.

And now, American Catholics are facing an internal war over one of the church’s most sacred rituals, the Eucharist, which represents the body and blood of Christ.

Among the conservative movement’s leaders: Bishop Rhoades, who chairs the bishops’ committee on doctrine.

Biden, who was then vice president, citing his support for abortion rights and gay marriage, in violation of the church’s teaching.

The bishops’ conference, held virtually last week, revealed a network of conservative church strongholds across the country, as bishop after bishop presented himself as a defender of the true faith, often in the face of what they described as persecution from liberal Christians, secular society and the news media.

Cordileone of San Francisco urged Catholics after the vote to “remember the eucharistic martyrs who died to protect the Most Blessed Sacrament from profanation.”.

Naumann of Kansas City, who leads the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, criticized public officials who “flaunt their Catholicity” but whose policies the church does not support.

Biden and Catholic politicians like him who support abortion rights.

Now, in the early months of the Biden administration, the bishops’ actions have newly emboldened the conservative grass roots.

Brian Lynch, associate pastor at Transfiguration Catholic Church, said he had discussed the bishops’ conference from the pulpit and encouraged his congregants to write letters of support for the Eucharist statement before the vote.

Some conservative Catholics have felt disturbed watching Mr.

Anderson, the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative organization in Washington, said that bishops’ taking action on a contemporary political issue was simply a matter of obedience to church teaching, regardless of partisanship.

Outside observers, and even many lay Catholics, don’t understand the deep sacredness of the Eucharist in church teaching and tradition, said Mary Hallan FioRito, a Catholic lawyer and commentator in Chicago.

She has friends who attend Mass frequently but do not even request the Eucharist because they were married outside the church and are therefore not in “valid” marriages.

“For Catholics, the Eucharist is not a symbol,” she said.

The bishops’ vote last week could lead to a slippery slope “where eventually Catholics like me are going to be excluded,” Ms