By JOSH BOAK, ZEKE MILLER and NICOLE WINFIELD
ROME (AP) — 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. Francis often sports a dour look, especially in official photos, but he seemed in good spirits Friday. The private meeting lasted about 75 minutes, according to the Vatican, more than double the normal length of an audience with the pontiff,
The pair sat across from each other at a desk in the papal library, accompanied by a translator. They then proceeded to an exchange of gifts and a broader meeting including the first lady and top officials.
“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.”
A dozen Swiss Guards in their blue and gold striped uniforms and red-plumed helmets stood at attention in the San Damaso courtyard as Biden and his wife, Jill, arrived. They were received by Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, who runs the papal household, and then greeted one by one the papal ushers, or papal gentlemen, who lined up in the courtyard.
“It’s good to be back,” Biden said as he shook the hand of one of them. “I’m Jill’s husband,” he told another before he was ushered into the frescoed Apostolic Palace and taken upstairs to the pope’s private library.
According to the Vatican, Biden presented Francis with a woven chasuble, or liturgical vestment, made in 1930 by the famed papal tailor Gammarelli and used by the pope’s Jesuit order in the U.S., where it was held in the archives of Holy Trinity Church, Biden’s regular parish in Washington. The White House said it would make a donation to charity in the pope’s name.
Biden also slipped what’s known as a challenge coin into the pope’s palm during a handshake, and hailed Francis as “the most significant warrior for peace I’ve ever met.”
The personalized coin depicts Biden’s home state of Delaware and a reference to his late son Beau’s military unit, the 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade. Biden told Francis that Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, would have wanted him to present the coin to the pope.
“The tradition is, and I’m only kidding about this, but next time I see you, if you don’t have it, you have to buy the drinks,” Biden said, referring to the coin. He added: “I’m the only Irishman you’ve ever met who’s never had a drink.”
Francis laughed and responded: “The Irish brought whiskey.”
Biden, 78, also relayed the story of American baseball player Satchel Paige, a Black pitcher who played late into his fifties, in a parable about aging. “’How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?” Biden quoted Paige as saying. “You’re 65, I’m 60,” Biden added, as Francis, 84, pointed to his head and laughed.
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.”
The warm encounter stood in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s 2017 meeting with Francis, with whom the former president had a prickly relationship. Photos from that 30-minute meeting showed a stone-faced Francis standing beside a grinning Trump. Biden’s meeting also was longer than the 52 minutes Barack Obama spent with Francis in 2014.
Suggested Reading by Zia H Shah MD for the best understanding of personal religion in the 21st century
Americans Trust Clergy Less Than Ever, Gallup Poll Finds
Pope Francis: Satan Is Stalking The Catholic Church
A Message of Compassion and Love from the Holy Bible
Deciding to Leave: The Last Straw that Broke a Catholic’s Back!
Why it’s so hard to hold priests accountable for sex abuse
If the Atheists and the Christians Debate, Islam Wins!
Abou Ben Adhem, A Compassionate Man
Americans are depressed and suicidal because something is wrong with our culture
Videos: Let Joel Osteen Breathe Hope, Optimism and Success in Your Life
What Can a Quarter of Unaffiliated US Population Find in Islam?
Father testifies in Australian court cardinal abused son
How Islam has Influenced Christian understanding of God
World Leading Christian Apologist, William Lane Craig Always Presents God of Islam and Judaism
24 Video lectures: The Great Courses: How Jesus Became God?
Video: The most famous Christian apologist, William Lane Craig, accepts there is no Trinity in the Old Testament
Book Review: The Dark Box: A Secret History of Confession
Two Hundred Verses about Compassionate Living in the Quran
A New Commentary of the Holy Quran Emphasizing Compassion, Justice and Human Rights Launched
Kripkean Dogmatism: The Best Metaphor to Understand Religious and Political Debates
Categories: Eucharist, Organized religion
After its last meeting in June, the U.S. bishops’ conference tried to walk back messaging about a document on so-called “eucharistic coherence,” releasing a statement downplaying the whole issue of denying Communion to pro-choice politicians and instead noting that it was related to “declining belief and understanding of the Eucharist among the Catholic faithful,” which has been of concern “for some time.”
We expect to hear similar spin when the bishops meet Nov. 15-17 in Baltimore to vote on the document.
Don’t be fooled.
Although many of the bishops would like to backpedal this public relations train wreck, lying about it won’t help rebuild trust and credibility. The truth is the document has been the pet project of a crowd of right-wing bishops — several of them committee heads — who convinced the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, that it was a good idea to play hardball with Joe Biden.
Except that it wasn’t. The debate over the controversial document has not only divided the bishops’ conference itself, it has presented a petty, vindictive face of the church at a time when true servant leadership couldn’t be more desperately needed.
It began shortly after Biden won in November, when Gomez formed a working group to address “problems” raised by a Catholic president who supports pro-choice policies.
On Inauguration Day, Gomez issued a nearly 1,200-word statement with themes proposed by the working group, offering prayers for Biden, but warning that “our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils.”
Around that time, the group recommended developing the document on eucharistic “coherence or consistency.”
The working group’s agenda — and even its membership — was shrouded in secrecy for several months, until NCR uncovered that it included Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit; Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco; Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York; Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas; Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City; Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland, California; Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee; Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia; Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana; and Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville of Washington, D.C.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/editorial-us-bishops-eucharist-document-has-always-been-about-biden?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=aaef74436a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_11_08_01_44&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-aaef74436a-400098637