Pope tells Biden to keep taking Communion
ROME — Face to face at the Vatican, President Joe Biden held extended and highly personal talks with Pope Francis on Friday and came away saying the pontiff told him he was a “good Catholic” and should keep receiving Communion, although conservatives have called for him to be denied the sacrament because of his support for abortion rights.
The world’s two most prominent Roman Catholics ran overtime in their discussions on climate change, poverty and the coronavirus pandemic, a warm conversation that also touched on the loss of president’s adult son and included jokes about aging well.
Biden said abortion did not come up in the meeting. “We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving Communion,” Biden said.
The president’s support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage has put him at odds with many U.S. bishops, some of whom have suggested he should be denied Communion. American bishops are due to meet in their annual fall conference in mid-November, and will find themselves debating a possible rebuke of a U.S. president just weeks after their boss spent so much time with Biden that all their subsequent meetings were thrown off by an hour.
Video released by the Vatican showed several warm, relaxed moments between Francis and Biden as they repeatedly shook hands and smiled. The private meeting lasted about 75 minutes, according to the Vatican, more
than double the normal length of an audience with the pontiff,
“Biden thanked His Holiness for his advocacy for the world’s poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution,” the White House said. “He lauded Pope Francis’ leadership in fighting the climate crisis, as well as his advocacy to ensure the pandemic ends for everyone through vaccine sharing and an equitable global economic recovery.”
Biden takes pride in his Catholic faith, using it as a moral guidepost to shape his social and economic policies. He wears a rosary and attends Mass weekly.
After leaving the Vatican,
Biden said that he had a “wonderful” meeting and that the pope prayed for him and blessed his rosary beads. He said the prayer was about “peace.”
Biden is visiting Rome and then Glasgow for back-to-back summits, first a gathering for leaders of the Group of 20 leading and developing nations and then a global climate conference.
Biden also met separately Friday with G-20 summit hosts Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. He ended the day with French President Emmanuel Macron, trying anew to smooth relations after the U.S. and U.K. decided to
provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, scotching a lucrative French contract in the process.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement after the Vatican meeting that didn’t address Biden’s remark about Communion. Instead, the statement suggested that the president would not be singled out in any document emerging from the bishops’ meeting next month.
Francis has stressed that he will not reject political leaders who support abortion rights, though Catholic policy allows individual bishops to choose whether to prevent people from taking Communion.