Biden expected to meet Pope Francis in final international trip of his presidency

The White House is expected to announce the president soon Joe Biden will go to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis Next month will likely be his last international trip of his presidency, according to three people familiar with the matter.

He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the White House deliberations.

White House officials declined to comment when asked about a possible Vatican visit.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni also declined to confirm or deny any visit, noting that Vatican policy is to only announce papal audiences with heads of state a few days before the trip.

Foreign trips are not common at the end of a US President’s term.

The last president to travel abroad in the final months of his presidency was George H. W. Bush, who visited Moscow in early January 1993 to sign the nuclear treaty and Paris for talks with French President François Mitterrand about the Bosnian War. They went. according to Historical Records of the State Department.

Biden, a practicing Roman Catholic, last met Pope Francis in person earlier this year when he was in Italy for a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders.

He also met with Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2021, when they held wide-ranging talks about climate change, poverty and the coronavirus pandemic.

Their warm conversation also included the loss of the president’s adult son Beau, who died of cancer in 2015, and jokes about aging well.

Biden’s support for abortion rights and gay marriage has put him at odds with several US bishops, some of whom have suggested he should be denied communion.

But after a Vatican meeting in 2021, Biden said Francis called him a “good Catholic” who should continue receiving Communion.

While in Rome, Biden can take advantage of being at the Vatican during the Holy Year, which officially opens on Christmas Eve.

The Holy Year is typically celebrated every 25 to 50 years, and for centuries has encouraged the faithful to make a pilgrimage to Rome to pray and receive indulgences at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul – Ancient church tradition concerning forgiveness of sins that is roughly the equivalent of a “get free from purgatory” card.

Pilgrims passing through the sacred doors of St. Peter’s Basilica can receive indulgences, and the Vatican expects some 32 million people to come to Rome to take part in the pilgrimage in 2025.