BIDEN AND POPE HOLD LONG MEETING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Fri 29 October 2021:

According to journalists on the scene, the meeting between US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis lasted 90 minutes, which was longer than the pontiff’s previous audiences with Biden’s predecessors, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

The meeting stretched twice as long as the one Biden held with Pope John Paul II as a young senator. While the White House said afterward that topics like climate change and Covid-19 arose, Biden told reporters he discussed “a lot of personal things” with the pontiff.

The meeting is the first stop on Biden’s European tour, which also includes stops at the G20 conference in Rome and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis began around 12 p.m. local time in Rome (10:00 GMT). It came to an end around 1:30 p.m. Jill Biden, the First Lady, also joined the journey to the Vatican.

Biden is the United States’ second Catholic president, following John F. Kennedy.

“President Biden complimented Pope Francis for his support for the world’s poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution during his meeting with him today.

Francis presented Biden with a ceramic tile depicting the iconography of the pilgrim, as well as a collection of the pope’s main teaching documents, the Vatican said. In the Vatican video, he could be heard asking Jill Biden to “pray for me.”

He praised Pope Francis’ leadership in combating the climate problem, as well as his advocacy to ensure that the pandemic is over for everyone by sharing vaccines and ensuring a fair global economic recovery “In a statement, the White House stated.

Biden’s support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage has has put him at odds with many U.S. bishops, some of whom have suggested he should be denied Communion.

Biden met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, after the head of the Catholic Church.

Obama and Pope Francis met in 2014 for 50 minutes, whereas Trump met with the pontiff for barely 30 minutes.

Biden was the 14th US president to meet with a pope at the Vatican. President Woodrow Wilson was the first to do so in 1919.

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