The 16th Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast will take place virtually this year in light of the coronavirus pandemic, at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday. Those interested in participating can register for free on the event’s website.

For those who do not wish to register in order to attend, the event will be livestreamed by ENTV at this link, the television network will also broadcast the breakfast on its stations.

In addition to Trump, Most Rev. Robert Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will deliver the keynote address, and Attorney General William Barr is expected to be presented with an award.

Trump’s appearance at the event comes at a crucial point in his re-election campaign, with less than 50 days remaining until the November 3 election date. Catholics across both sides of the political aisle have moved to voice their support for Trump as well as Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Trump has said he identifies as a Presbyterian, and Biden has spoken publicly about his Catholic faith.

In late August, Father James Altman, a Catholic priest in Wisconsin, released a nine-minute video August 30 in which he attacked the Democratic Party.

“Here’s a memo to clueless baptized Catholics out there. You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat. Period,” Altman said. “Their party platform absolutely is against everything the Catholic Church teaches.”

The priest encouraged viewers to “repent of your support of [the Democratic] Party and its platform, or face the fires of Hell.”

New Jersey’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, said last week that Catholics can “in good conscience” cast a vote for Biden. “I think that a person in good conscience could vote for Mr. Biden,” Tobin said during a panel discussion. “I, frankly, in my own way of thinking have a more difficult time with the other option.”

And more than 20,000 people have signed a petition urging the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast to cancel its planned award for Barr, a Catholic, over what they see as his “record of unjust, corrupt authoritarianism.”

The petition by Faithful America, which describes itself as the largest online community of Christians acting for social justice, had garnered 21,232 signatures as of late Tuesday afternoon. Barr is set to receive the Christifideles Laici award, described as, “In Honor and Gratitude for Fidelity to the Church, Exemplary Selfless and Steadfast Service in the Lord’s Vineyard.”

“Attorney General William Barr’s work—which includes teargassing peaceful protesters in front of the White House, defending the president’s lawless corruption and attacks on American elections, and reinstating federal executions—has nothing to do with service to the Lord, and cannot be described as fidelity to the Church,” according to the petition.

But a Catholic voting group announced September 15 its plans to invest $9.7 million in campaign ads to draw attention to Biden’s alleged lack of support for Catholic issues.

“Joe Biden’s record makes clear he will not protect our Catholic values or defend our way of life,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch said in a news release. “For Catholics who cherish the Faith and their freedom to live it, a Biden presidency represents an existential threat.”

The non-profit political group based in Madison, Wisconsin, said it is working to reach at least 5 million swing state voters with this messaging before November 3. At the core of the group’s concern in Biden’s stance on abortion.

“Joe Biden would force American Catholics to pay for abortions, sacrificing his Catholic values, to kneel before the leftist mob,” a CatholicVote ad states.

Surveys suggest that Trump won the Catholic vote in the 2016 election, receiving 52 percent of Catholics’ support, compared to the 39 percent received by his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Data from a Pew Research survey in June showed that, among Catholics, only 41 percent approved of Trump and 57 percent disapproved.