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VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – President Joe Biden met with Pope Francis on Friday as part of his itinerary for the upcoming G20 summit, conversing with the Pontiff on the “climate crisis” as well as the global rollout of the abortion-tainted COVID-19 shots. Abortion itself remained unmentioned, however, according to official press releases.

The meeting between the world’s most powerful Catholic men lasted approximately 75 minutes, significantly longer than the Pope’s meetings with Biden’s predecessors Barack Obama and Donald Trump, whose combined papal audiences lasted around 80 minutes.

After the presidential motorcade arrived at the Vatican at around midday Rome time, Biden could be heard saying “it’s good to be back” as he was greeted at the Apostolic Palace.

A press release from the White House noted that Biden “thanked His Holiness for his advocacy for the world’s poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution. 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.”

The White House informed correspondents that the meeting “was very warm when the delegation arrived in the room. There was laughter and clear rapport between President Biden and Pope Francis.”

Biden subsequently met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, whom he is said to have expressed thanks for the Vatican’s “active leadership in fighting the climate crisis — both through advocacy and encouraging the climate neutrality of hundreds of Christian organizations worldwide.”

As in his meeting with Francis, a White House statement noted that Biden and Parolin “discussed efforts to rally global support for vaccinating the developing world against COVID-19.”

Additionally, the statement indicated that the president “thanked the Vatican for speaking out on behalf of the wrongfully detained, including in Venezuela and Cuba. The leaders committed to continue using their voices to advocate for personal and religious freedoms world-wide.”

A Holy See Press Office statement confirmed that the men focused their discussion on “the joint commitment to the protection and care of the planet, the healthcare situation and the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the theme of refugees and assistance to migrants. Reference was also made to the protection of human rights, including freedom of religion and conscience.”

“Finally, the talks enabled an exchange of views on some matters regarding the current international situation, also in the context of the imminent G20 summit in Rome, and on the promotion of peace in the world through political negotiation,” the statement reads.

Ahead of his meeting with President Biden, Pope Francis delivered a statement on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day” segment, focusing his attention on what he called a “succession of crises” regarding “health care, the environment, food supplies and the economy, to say nothing of social, humanitarian and ethical crises.”

The Pope urged listeners not to let these crises go to waste, advising that they present an “opportunity” to “build together, so that there will no longer be any borders.”

Francis stressed that the only way to pursue a “brighter horizon” in moving forward is not through following Jesus Christ, but rather “through a renewed sense of shared responsibility for our world, and an effective solidarity based on justice, a sense of our common destiny and a recognition of the unity of our human family in God’s plan for the world.”

Following their private conversation, Biden and Francis exchanged gifts, as is customary, with the president giving the Pope a 90-year-old fiddleback chasuble, reportedly kept until now in the archives of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.

According to the Catholic News Service, Biden also handed the Pope a “presidential command coin.” The president told Francis that the coin is given to “warriors and leaders,” adding that “you are the most significant warrior for peace I’ve ever met.”

“The next time I see you, if you don’t have it [the coin,] you have to buy the drinks,” Biden joked.

In return, the Pope gave Biden an artistic ceramic tile depicting a man pointing towards St. Peter’s Basilica across the Tiber, named “The Pilgrim,” along with numerous papal documents, including his controversial Abu Dhabi document on fraternity, in which he and the Grand Imam Ahmad al-Tayyeb said that a “pluralism and diversity” of religions is “willed by God.”

The Friday meeting was initially scheduled to have live press coverage, in line with Vatican norms for meetings with heads of state, including video footage of the assembly. However, just one day before Biden was due to meet with the Pope, the Vatican announced that no press coverage would be permitted, providing no reason for the sudden change and causing consternation among the Vatican press corps.

As expected by many commentators, the two men did not seem to discuss Biden’s abortion advocacy, though they were scheduled to speak on “efforts grounded in respect for fundamental human dignity,” according to the White House.

The meeting comes just weeks ahead of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Assembly, during which a proposed document on the Eucharist will be debated, potentially drawing up an official reprimand for Catholic politicians who publicly oppose Church teaching on moral issues. The assembly is due to take place November 15–18, marking the Conference’s first in-person meeting since November 2019.

The USCCB voted overwhelmingly in their Spring Assembly to consider the document on the Eucharist, “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church,” within which special attention will be given to “how participation in the Eucharist compels us to conversion,” Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chairman of the USCCB doctrine committee, explained in a pre-recorded address to his fellow bishops at the time.

A subset of this third part of the document would address “Eucharistic consistency,” said Rhoades, referring to the need for Catholics to receive our Lord in Holy Communion only in a state of grace.

It is understood that the document could directly challenge Catholic politicians, such as Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who publicly espouse anti-Catholic views on matters like abortion and homosexual “marriage” by disbarring them from receiving Holy Communion, consistent with historic Catholic Church teaching.

The Code of Canon Law (can. 915) states that Catholics who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”

In a statement released on the eve of Biden’s meeting with the Pope, Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, lamented that Catholic politicians in Congress have “contributed in a significant way to the consolidation of a culture of death in the United States, in which procured abortion is simply a fact of daily life.”

Regarding the upcoming debate on “Eucharistic Coherence” among the USCCB, the cardinal noted that “It is the Diocesan Bishop, not the Conference, that applies the universal law to a particular situation,” in reference to the proper application of canon 915. It is therefore the “sacred duty” of bishops, assisted by the Conference, to apply the law properly, Burke said.

Biden has made his position on abortion clear, outlining his strong favor of maintaining Roe v. Wade and support of access to abortion “under any circumstance.”

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden decried the attempts of Republican lawmakers to overturn Roe, declaring that “[i]t’s wrong. It’s pernicious. And, we have to stop it.” He vowed to “codify Roe v. Wade” if he was to take the president’s office, adding, “my Justice Department will do everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate a woman’s protected, constitutional right to choose [abortion].”

The U.S. Constitution makes no mention of abortion.

The president also revealed that he does not only support abortion, but that he does not believe established science that a new, independent human life begins at conception: “I respect those who believe life begins at the moment of conception. I don’t agree, but I respect that. I’m not going to impose that on people.”

Although describing himself as a “devout Catholic” and seen to attend Holy Mass, Biden stands at odds with the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church on abortion.
The Catholic Church holds that abortion “is gravely contrary to the moral law” and “constitutes a grave offense.” “The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Despite the president’s clearly anti-Catholic position, according to Biden the Pope has even given the ardent abortion supporter Holy Communion. Speaking after being denied Communion in 2019 by a priest in South Carolina, Biden said: “It’s not a position that I’ve found anywhere else, including from the Holy Father, who gives me Communion.”

Pope Francis said as part of an in-flight interview last month that denying even an obstinately pro-abortion politician communion is a “political” and not “pastoral” act, advising clergy, “If you say you can give or not give [the Eucharist], this is casuistry.” He added that he has never denied Holy Communion to anyone.