President Biden will visit Italy in January and meet with Pope Francis, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
This overseas trip from January 9th to 12th is likely to be President-elect Trump's last trip as president until he takes office on January 20th.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that Biden is scheduled to have an audience with the Pope on January 10 to “discuss efforts to promote peace around the world.”
“The Prime Minister also spoke with Italian leaders, highlighting the strength of the U.S.-Italian relationship, thanking Prime Minister Meloni for his strong leadership in the G7 over the past year, and discussing important challenges facing the world. We are planning to discuss it,” he added.
Biden is the second Catholic president in U.S. history and has ties to the Pope, who has supported Biden despite the church's teachings against abortion. The two met in June during Biden's visit to Italy for the Group of Seven (G7) meeting.
The pontiff also met with the pope in October 2021, as conservative Catholic bishops weighed whether he could receive Holy Communion because of his pro-abortion stance. Biden said at the time that the pope told him he should continue receiving Holy Communion.
A month later, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a document on the reception of the Holy Communion without mentioning whether Biden or other politicians should be denied the rite because of their stance on abortion, and ended debate on the issue. suggested the end of
Biden also recalled that the pope visited Washington, D.C., in 2015, when he was vice president, and his son Beau had just died. He said the pope spoke with the family about their deceased son for 10 to 15 minutes.
