Joe Biden has met Pope Francis at the Vatican ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit which is due to get underway in Rome tomorrow.
The President, a devout Roman Catholic, was pictured meeting and exchanging gifts with the Pontiff in the papal library, where the talks were held.
The Vatican said the private meeting lasted one hour and 15 minutes and then about another 15 minutes were spent for picture taking and the exchange of gifts in the presence of other members of the delegation, such as Biden’s wife, Jill, who wore a traditional mantilla veil.
Biden was scheduled to be with the Pontiff for only an hour but got 30 minutes of extra time. In 2017, Francis met then President Donald Trump for 30 minutes and, in 2014, Francis met with then President Barack Obama for 52 minutes.
During their meeting, Biden gave Pope Francis a handwoven chasuble from 1930 from Holy Trinity Church in DC, where he often goes to Mass. An accompanying note says as a gift to the Pope, the White House also will donate winter clothing to charities as part of World Day for the Poor.
The White House said during the meeting Biden lauded Pope Francis’ leadership in fighting the climate crisis, and his advocacy to ensure the pandemic ends for everyone through vaccine sharing and equitable global economic recovery. It made no mention of abortion.
The Vatican is due to issue its own statement later.
First Lady Jill Biden joined her husband for the closed-door meeting. She left when it was over – as did Pope Francis – but Biden stayed for an extended bilateral meeting with senior Vatican officials.
‘It’s good to be back,’ the president told one of the Papal gentlemen upon his arrival at the Holy See. ‘I’m Jill’s husband,’ he also said, which is one of his trademark greetings.
Biden was earlier seen arriving at in the San Damaso courtyard of the Apostolic Palace where he was greeted by Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza and shook hands with the ‘Pope’s gentlemen’.
Biden is facing pressure from conservatives in the American church who want to admonish politicians who support abortion rights but take communion.
Parts of the meeting were due to be broadcast on live TV but this was abruptly cancelled overnight, with the Vatican saying it will release edited footage after the talks have taken place.
Biden arrived for the meeting – his fourth with Francis but first since becoming President – in a huge 85-car motorcade carrying his security detail, because of Italian Covid rules that mean each vehicle can only carry a maximum of four people.
The President has fled tanking approval ratings at home and partisan in-fighting over his $1.75trillon spending bill to travel to Rome, where he is set to meet with leaders from the G20 group of wealthy nations for a two-day summit.
It is the first face-to-face summit of the G20 since Covid struck, and Biden will be hoping to use it to repair his international reputation following his chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that frustrated his allies and drew unfavourable comparisons with predecessor Donald Trump.
It also comes just two days ahead of the start of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow that will be hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The agenda for the G20 is set to include Covid vaccines and global access to healthcare, the economic recovery from the pandemic and wealth inequalities, climate change, and trade. It comes ahead of another major conference – the COP26 climate summit – which kicks off in Glasgow on Monday.
Before meeting with Biden, Francis also met with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, also a Catholic, who presented him with a cross made from barbed wire taken from the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
The Vatican said Francis gave Moon a medallion replicating Bernini’s original plan for St. Peter’s Square. The design envisages the two main colonnades of the piazza embracing humanity in the church.
Ahead of his meeting with Biden, Francis issued a statement which calls on world leaders to take ‘radical decisions’ to protect the environment and prioritize the common good.
In a special Thought for the Day message for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Pope said: ‘We have lost our sense of security and are experiencing a sense of powerlessness and loss of control over our lives.’
US President Joe Biden met Pope Francis in the Vatican for a closed-door meeting during which the pair are expected to discuss climate change and social injustice ahead of G20 summit tomorrow
Biden and Pope Francis were pictured smiling together during a private audience at the Vatican on Friday ahead of the COP26 and G20 summits
Biden, a devout Roman Catholic, sat down with Pope Francis for a private meeting – his fourth with Francis but first since becoming President – in the Vatican on Friday
The Vatican said the private meeting lasted one hour and 15 minutes and then about another 15 minutes were spent for picture taking and the exchange of gifts in the presence of other members of the delegation, such as Biden’s wife, Jill, who wore a traditionally mantilla veil
Pope Francis, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were pictured exchanging gifts during a private meeting at the Vatican on Friday
The Vatican said the private meeting lasted one hour and 15 minutes and then about another 15 minutes were spent for picture taking and the exchange of gifts in the presence of other members of the delegation, such as Biden’s wife, Jill
Joe Biden has arrived at the Vatican for a closed-door meeting with Pope Francis during which the pair are expected to discuss climate change and social injustice ahead of G20 summit tomorrow
Joe and Jill Biden were pictured meeting with Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza (right) and the ‘Pope’s gentlemen’ at the Apostolic Palace before being led to the papal library where his talks with Francis will take place
Jill Biden accompanied Joe to the meeting, where he introduced himself to several Vatican officials as ‘Jill’s husband’ – which has become one of the President’s go-to greetings
Biden has been facing criticism in the US over his support for abortion rights which has seen bishops call for him to be refused Communion. It is not known whether the issue will form part of his talks with Francis
Biden arrived in a colossal 85-car motorcade needed to carry his security detail because of Italian Covid rules that restrict each vehicle to a maximum of four occupants
The motorcade included Italian police vehicles, armoured US cars, and other high-tech vehicles such as IED jammers
Included in the convoy was an Ford SUV carrying electronic warfare equipment on its roof, which is thought to include technology to disable nearby IEDs and drones
Biden and Jill rode in the convoy inside The Beast, the heavily-armoured presidential limousine
He said the crises being faced ‘forecast a perfect storm’ but also provide opportunities.
Francis added: ‘These crises present us with the need to take decisions, radical decisions that are not always easy.
‘At the same time, moments of difficulty like these also present opportunities. Opportunities that we must not waste.’
The Pope warned against countries taking an isolationist approach, and called for a ‘renewed sense of shared responsibility for our world’.
‘We can confront these crises by retreating into isolationism, protectionism and exploitation, or we can see in them a real chance for change, a genuine moment of conversion and not simply in a spiritual sense,’ he said.
The meeting took place amid fierce debate in the United States Church, where Biden in under pressure from conservatives over his conflicted position in the dispute over abortion rights.
The president, who goes to weekly Mass regularly and keeps a picture of the pope behind his desk in the Oval Office, has said he is personally opposed to abortion but cannot impose his views as an elected leader.
His most ardent critics in the U.S. Church hierarchy have said Biden, a Democrat, should be banned from receiving communion, the central sacrament of the faith, and doubled down ahead of the meeting.
‘Dear Pope Francis, you have boldly stated that abortion is ‘murder’. Please challenge President Biden on this critical issue. His persistent support of abortion is an embarrassment for the Church and a scandal to the world,’ Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, said in a Tweet.
On his website, another American conservative, Cardinal Raymond Burke, without naming Biden, spoke of the ‘grave scandal caused by such Catholic politicians’.
‘They have, in fact, contributed in a significant way to the consolidation of a culture of death in the United States, in which procured abortion is simply a fact of daily life,’ Burke said.
In June, a divided conference of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops voted to draft a statement on communion that some bishops say should specifically admonish Catholic politicians, including Biden.
The bishops, who went ahead despite a Vatican warning that it would sow discord rather than unity, will take up the issue again next month.
Asked about the U.S. communion debate last month, the pope told reporters that abortion is ‘murder’. But he also appeared to criticise U.S. Catholic bishops for dealing with the issue in a political rather than a pastoral way.
‘Communion is not a prize for the perfect. … Communion is a gift, the presence of Jesus and his Church,’ the pope said, adding that bishops should use ‘compassion and tenderness’ with Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.
After meeting with the Pope, Biden will meet his Italian counterparts including President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
Biden will also convene with French President Emanuel Macron on Friday, their first face-to-face meeting since the AUKUS submarine deal between the US, UK and Australia that roiled the French.
Over the weekend, Biden will attend G20 events to discuss the international economy and international issues. He will likely hold meetings with other world leaders to discuss supply chain issues, energy prices and the Iranian nuclear program, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
They are also likely to discuss implementation of the global minimum tax, which G7 finance ministers worked out back in June. Earlier this month, 136 countries agreed to set up a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15%, to be imposed by 2023.
The president will then head to Glasgow, Scotland for the COP26, a United Nations climate summit, where he’ll likely face questions about his Build Back Better plan and its climate provisions. The framework of the $1.75T social and climate bill now includes $500 billion in climate provisions.
Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza greets US President Joe Biden as he arrives at San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican
Joe Biden gestures to wife Jill to join him as he meets Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, the regent of the Papal Household, at the Vatican ahead of a meeting with Pope Francis
TV cameras capture the moment Joe Biden arrives at the Vatican, though will not be permitted to record the meeting itself after live coverage with abruptly cancelled without explanation
Joe Biden departs after having a bilateral meeting with Pope Francis and His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, at the Vatican
Joe Biden leaves the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace after a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican
A Swiss Guard stands by the US motorcade during Biden’s meeting with the Pope on Friday
The car transporting US President Joe Biden and US First Lady Jill Biden arrives at San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican
US President Joe Biden looks on from his car as he leaves The Vatican following a lengthy meeting with Pope Francis
A member of the Swiss Guard raises the US flag above the San Damaso courtyard before the arrival of Joe Biden
A C17 military jet kicked up clouds of vapour as it touched down on the runway before disgorging the president’s Marine One helicopter
Scores of security personnel were also seen leaving the military plane. They were thankfully treated to a break in the downpours
Today’s scenes were all the more impressive given that it was just a fraction of the overall US team. Mr Biden and his wife Jill are in Rome today to meet the Pope to discuss a range of issues including climate change
The president had said he hoped to have a deal in hand before he showed up to the UN climate conference, but White House officials played down the need to have an actual vote by that time, arguing that world leaders would understand the legislation was in its home stretch.
Rome marks the first in-person meeting of the full G20 since the Covid pandemic began, and provides an opportunity to confront issues such as the global energy crunch, clogged supply chains, new outbreaks of Covid and vaccines, and action to tackle climate change.
The summit will allow leaders representing 80 per cent of the global economy to talk – and apply peer pressure – on all those issues though analysts question how much progress they can make to ease the burden right away on people facing rising prices on everything from food and furniture to higher heating bills heading into winter.
Health and financial officials are sitting down in Rome on Friday before presidents and prime ministers gather for the G-20 Saturday and Sunday, but the leaders of major economic players China and Russia won’t be there in person. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will instead join via video-link.
That may not bode well for cooperation, especially on energy issues as climate change takes center stage just before the U.N. Climate Change Conference begins Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland.
The International Monetary Fund says the top priority for the economic recovery is simple: speed up the vaccination of the world population. Yet big headlines on vaccine cooperation may not be forthcoming at the Rome summit.
The G-20 countries have supported vaccine-sharing through the U.N.-backed COVAX program, which has failed to alleviate dire shortages in poor countries. Donated doses are coming in at a fraction of what is needed, and developed countries are focused on booster shots for their own populations.
Negotiations before the summit have not focused on a large number of vaccines that could be made available, though countries talked about strengthening health systems.
Meanwhile, rising consumer prices and government stimulus programs to help economies bounce back from the pandemic may be discussed, but central banks tend to deal with higher prices and stimulus spending is decided at the national level.
One major economic deal is already done: The G-20 will likely be a celebration of an agreement on a global minimum corporate tax, aimed at preventing multinational companies from stashing profits in countries where they pay little or no taxes.
All G-20 governments signed on to the deal negotiated among more than 130 countries, and it now faces an ambitious timeline to get approved and enacted through 2023.
U.S. President Joe Biden has tied his domestic agenda to it – creating a global minimum tax can allow the United States to charge higher taxes without the risk of companies shifting their profits to tax havens. U.S. adoption is key because so many multinational companies are headquartered there.
The agreement also helps remove trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe. It allows nations including France, Italy and Spain to back off digital services taxes that targeted U.S. tech companies Google, Facebook and Amazon.
Biden goes to the G-20 with his tax and economic agenda still subject to congressional negotiations. That means he will be unable to show that the U.S. is leading on global corporate taxes, though his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said G-20 leaders understand the nature of congressional talks.
‘They’ll say, `Is President Biden on track to deliver on what he said he’s going to deliver?’ And we believe one way or the other, he will be on track to do that,’ Sullivan said.
Following his meeting with the Pope, Biden went to the Italian presidential palace where he met President Sergio Mattarella
US and Italian delegations sit down for talks inside the Presidential Palace in Rome led by Biden (left) and Mattarella (right)
Italian President Sergio Mattarella greets US President Joe Biden upon his arrival for their meeting at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome
Biden and Mattarella met for discussions ahead of the G20 summit which will take place in Rome, starting on Saturday
Mattarella introduces Biden to Italy’s Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio (fourth left) and General Secrcetary of the Italian Presidency Ugo Zampetti (fifth left) upon arrival at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome
Italian President Sergio Mattarella meets with U.S. President Joe Biden ahead of G20 summit at the Quirinale Palace in Rome
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken watches on as formal introductions are made between Italian and US delegations
Joe Biden speaks with Italian President Sergio Mattarella (visible front left) via a translator at the Quirinale Palace
Biden is welcomed at the Quirinale Palace in Rome ahead of a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella
Biden is given a guard of honour as he arrives at the Quirinale Palace in Rome after meeting with the Pope
Italy’s Prime Minister, Mario Draghi and his wife Maria Serenella Cappello greet US President Joe Biden and US First Lady Jill Biden upon their arrival for their meeting at the Chigi palace in Rome
U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi shake hands as they meet ahead of the G20 summit
The summit offers an opportunity for dialogue on high oil and gas prices because it includes delegations from major energy producers Saudi Arabia and Russia, major consumers in Europe and China, and the U.S., which is both.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to participate remotely.
‘Perhaps the most important thing the G20 could do is to tell those among them that are major energy suppliers that they should think about their future,’ said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank.
If energy prices are too high in the developed world, it will only speed up the move away from fossil fuels, ‘which is ultimately, in the long run, bad for the suppliers,’ he said.
The White House says Biden intends to engage with other key leaders about energy prices, with oil recently hitting a seven-year high in the U.S. at over $84 per barrel and the international Brent crude benchmark reaching a three-year peak at over $86.
‘We are definitely in an energy crisis, there is no other way to put it,’ said Claudio Galimberti, senior vice president of analysis at Rystad Energy and an expert in oil market demand.
But he said it’s unlikely the G-20 ‘can take any decision that has immediate impact.’
So far, Saudi-led OPEC and allies including Russia, dubbed OPEC+, have ignored Biden’s pleas to increase production faster than its pace of 400,000 barrels per day each month into next year.
In one bright spot, Russian President Vladimir Putin told state-controlled company Gazprom to pump more gas into storage facilities in Europe, where prices have quintupled this year and fears have spread about winter shortages.
But producing nations ‘are in a powerful position,’ Galimberti said. ‘There is no one who can put pressure on OPEC+.’
Biden will press for countries to share more information about troubles with supply chains that have slowed growth in the developed world. Port and factory closures, shortages of shipping containers and rising demand have contributed to backlogs at ports and delays for deliveries of everything from bicycles to computer chips used in smartphones and cars.
Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said the president would push for more transparency about identifying logjams with other governments: ‘How do we know, at every level, where there may be bottlenecks or breaks in the supply chain so that we can quickly respond to them?’
Trade expert Chad P. Bown, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, agreed that sharing information can be helpful but said ‘there’s very little anyone can do’ now about the backups over a lack of shipping containers.
Longer term, leaders can discuss efforts to diversify supply of key goods such as masks, other medical protective equipment and semiconductors.
‘There is a call to diversify some production of semiconductors geographically’ away from Asia, Bown said.
The U.S. and the European Union are talking about finding ways to incentivize chip production at home without starting a subsidy war – for instance, by agreeing on which sectors of the semiconductor industry each side would seek to attract.
Joe Biden is seen arriving at Rome-Fiumicino International Airport alongside wife Jill early Friday, having delayed his flight while wrangling with politicians back home over his $1.75trillion spending bill
The President, a devout Roman Catholic, will meet with Francis ahead of the G20 leader’s summit which will take place this weekend where he will attempt to repair his international reputation after the chaotic Afghan withdrawal
Biden has fled tanking poll numbers back home and political in-fighting over his $1.75trillion spending bill, in the hopes that the G20 will help him repair relations with a number of key allies
The G20 leaders’ summit will take place between Saturday and Sunday in Rome, with Covid vaccines, the global economic recovery from the pandemic and climate change set to be high up the agenda