U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived at the Vatican, Friday, October 29, for a meeting with Pope Francis where they discussed the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and poverty.
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READ MORE: U.S. President Joe Biden met Friday with Pope Francis at the Vatican, in what is branded as a personal and political audience, ahead of the G-20 leaders' summit in Rome about the global economy, followed by a summit on climate change in Glasgow, Scotland.
The president and first lady Jill Biden were welcomed by the head of Papal Household, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza. Around noon the first couple had a private audience with the pope before participating in a broader delegate meeting, which on the U.S. side included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O‘Malley Dillon.
The White House declined to say whether Biden will take Holy Communion from Pope Francis – a sensitive issue amid demands from some that a Catholic president who supports abortion should be barred from it.
“That’s something that’s very personal, as you can imagine,” Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told VOA aboard Air Force One on the way to Rome. “His faith is something that’s very personal to him. I don’t have anything to share at this time about that.”
Biden will likely face the issues of gender, sexuality and reproduction, as he has tried over the years to reconcile his strong Roman Catholic faith with his duty to lead an explicitly secular government.
Francis once guided the Biden family through personal grief and perches permanently behind the president's shoulder in a framed photo that overlooks the Oval Office.
The two have met three times and exchanged letters, administration officials said, and Biden met with both of Francis' predecessors. During a visit to the United States in 2015, Biden has said, the pope took time to talk with the future president and his family not long after the death of Biden's son, Beau.
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