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Biden meets with Pope Francis as communion controversy looms

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The topic of Communion came up during the 90 minute meeting between President Joe Biden and Pope Francis Friday. The meeting’s length was more than double the normal length of time for an audience with the pontiff.

“In his audience with Pope Francis today, President Biden thanked His Holiness for his advocacy for the world’s poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution,” the White House said in a statement. “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 meeting with Pope Francis and Biden comes as a growing number of conservative Catholic bishops say people who support abortion rights shouldn’t be able to take communion.  The president, who goes to weekly mass, has said he is personally opposed to abortion but cannot impose his views as an elected leader. 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.

Following the meeting with Pope Francis, Biden met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin.

“The leaders discussed efforts to rally global support for vaccinating the developing world against COVID-19. President Biden thanked the Vatican for speaking out on behalf of the wrongfully detained, including in Venezuela and Cuba,” the White House said in a different statement. “The leaders committed to continue using their voices to advocate for personal and religious freedoms world-wide.”

The meetings kicked off a busy week for the president. He met separately with Group of 20 summit hosts Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Biden ended his day by meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. That meeting is part of an effort to mend relations with France after the U.S. and U.K. decided to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, nullifying an existing French contract.

“I think what happened was, to use an English phrase, what we did was clumsy. It was not done with a lot of grace,” Biden told Macron. “I was under the impression certain things had happened that hadn’t happened, but I want to make it clear that France is an extremely, extremely valued partner.”

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President Joe Biden: “It’s good to be back”

THAT WAS PRESIDENT BIDEN’S MESSAGE TO THE POPE WHEN HE ARRIVED AT THE VATICAN.

BIDEN, A DEVOUT CATHOLIC, SPOKE WITH THE POPE FOR 90 MINUTES.

THE TWO HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP… BUT THIS VISIT ISN’T WITHOUT CONTROVERSY.

A GROWING NUMBER OF CONSERVATIVE CATHOLIC BISHOPS SAY PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT ABORTION RIGHTS SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO TAKE COMMUNION.

THE PRESIDENT, WHO GOES TO WEEKLY MASS REGULARLY, HAS SAID HE IS PERSONALLY OPPOSED TO ABORTION BUT CANNOT IMPOSE HIS VIEWS AS AN ELECTED LEADER.

DESPITE THE WHITE HOUSE CLAIMING IT WOULD SEEK PRESS ACCESS, THE VATICAN ABRUPTLY DECIDED IT WOULDN’T EVEN BROADCAST THE BEGINNING OF THE EVENT AS THE PAPAL PRESS OFFICE ROUTINELY DOES FOR VISITING WORLD LEADERS.

AND THEN THERE ARE THE CONTINUING ISSUES AT HOME.

BIDEN’S DOMESTIC AGENDA ONCE AGAIN ON LIFE SUPPORT AS PROGRESSIVES IN THE HOUSE SAID NO-GO TO VOTING ON THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL YESTERDAY.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal: ”I have signaled for days that we simply did not have the votes for the bipartisan bill without the other bill, the Build Back Better bill, which has 85 percent of the president’s agenda that we care deeply about.”

ANY PROGRESS ON THAT FRONT SEEMS STALLED AS BOTH THE HOUSE AND SENATE HAVE RECESSED UNTIL MONDAY.

STRAIGHT FROM DC I’M ANNIE ANDERSEN