Many in the liberal Catholic media sphere will be tempted to spin Hunter Biden’s pardon as an occasion of paternal mercy. Some might even go as far as to compare President Biden’s actions to those of the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 

To be sure, there are a few superficial parallels. Like the biblical prodigal son, Hunter blew vast amounts of money on intoxicants and women. And like the father in the parable, President Biden exercised what power he possessed to pardon the sins of the son. 

But the similarities to the Prodigal Son of Scripture end there. That's because, unlike the father in the parable, President Biden is directly implicated in allegations of the son’s misconduct. And, despite every effort by Democratic operatives and their allies in the press to obfuscate the larger story, that changes everything.

Hunter’s pardon is highly unusual for several reasons, according to legal experts, raising suspicions around his father’s motives. 

First, it is enormously broad. Not only does it absolve Hunter of crimes for which he has already been convicted — including three felony counts for lying on a federal firearms application and nine federal tax charges — the “full and unconditional pardon” clears him of “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in,” according to the filing. 

In other words, the pardon does far more than clear Hunter of his tax and gun convictions. Had Biden simply wanted to spare his son prison time for those charges, he could have done so. But the pardon absolved him of as-yet-unidentified crimes. Not since Gerald Ford’s pardoning Richard Nixon 50 years ago has a blanket pardon of this nature been issued. 

The second strange element is the pardon’s oddly specific time span of 11 years, clearing Hunter of crimes during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” 

Even Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart, a reliable ally of the Democratic Party, couldn’t help arching an eyebrow over this detail. 

“Eleven years is a very specific and not-rounded amount of time,” he said on his show Monday night. “I didn’t know pardons could cover crimes you may have committed. I’m surprised Biden didn’t include the phrase ‘on Earth One or any of the Earths in the multiverse.’” 

Some have speculated that the 11-year window has to do with Hunter’s  business dealings during that time span. Particular attention has been drawn to Hunter’s position on the board of Ukrainian gas firm Burisma, which he took in April of 2014 — just four months after the period covered by the pardon begins. 

Hunter, who had no relevant experience to justify such a lofty position, was paid $1 million annually by Burisma, including two years during which his father was vice president, as well as the Obama administration’s point man on Ukrainian and Russian tensions.  

During that period, Biden was instrumental in ousting Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who had been leading a corruption probe into Burisma. Biden has denied allegations that his son’s compensation played any role in his actions. 

Numerous other elements of Hunter’s foreign dealings that implicate the president have come under scrutiny and remain unresolved. 

In 2014, for instance, Congressional Republicans have alleged that Russian  oligarch Elena Baturina, Russia’s richest woman at the time, funneled $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a shell company belonging to Hunter and his business partner Devon Archer. 

Weeks later, Baturina attended a dinner with the Bidens at Washington, D.C.’s Cafe Milano. For critics, it was no surprise that Baturina’s name didn’t show up on a list of Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the Obama administration following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. 

A Kazakh businessman named Kenes Rakishev was also at that dinner. According to bank records, he wired a company owned Hunter $142,300 around that time. 

And then in 2017, Hunter attempted to strike a deal with a Chinese energy company that, according to an email obtained following discovery of his infamous laptop in 2020, would have included a 10% stake for “the big guy.” Hunter’s business partner Tony Bobulinksi testified to the House Oversight Committee that “the big guy” was Joe Biden. 

Hunter later testified that he had written this without his father’s knowledge. 

These are only some of the allegations we know about regarding an alleged Biden family “influence peddling” scheme. Hunter’s pardon all but assures the public won’t learn the full extent of his possible misdeeds, nor the level of involvement of his father. 

Democratic Party-friendly media outlets appear eager to contribute to the cover-up by emphasizing the “human side” of the saga. But it’s clear that every attempt to emphasize Hunter the drug addict is an attempt to deemphasize Hunter the bag man; and every attempt to emphasize Joe the father is an attempt to deemphasize Joe “the big guy.” 

This is not fundamentally a story about a father showing mercy to his son, but of a father attempting to evade even more blemishes to his tarnished legacy. 

It’s important to keep in mind that President Biden and his son are both baptized Catholics. During this penitential season of Advent, one hopes that, above all, both are ultimately reconciled to God, the Just Judge. No matter the sins of either men, God will receive them with open arms just as the father received the Prodigal Son upon his return home.