The first stop of his Europe trip for the devoutly Catholic US president was an audience with the pope, before pressing the case for democratic values and US leadership on climate change at the G20 and COP26 meetings.
US President Joe Biden arrived at the Vatican Friday for a meeting with Pope Francis. The two discussed global challenges ranging from the COVID pandemic to climate change and poverty.
“It’s good to be back,” Biden declared as he arrived in the San Damaso courtyard.
Biden has previously met the pontiff three times but this is their first meeting since he was elected president.
He shook the hands of a Swiss Guard and introduced himself as “Jill’s husband” before going into his private audience with the pope. Later on Friday, official sources said that the meeting had gone well over its allotted time to 75 minutes, much longer than most papal audiences.
Before he left the Vatican, Biden thanked Francis for “his advocacy for the world’s poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution”. The president then praised the pope’s “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”.