US President Joe Biden considered this Saturday that the compassion and defense of the poor that Pope Francis exercises daily serves as a “pole star” for the world.
After meeting with Pope Francis this Friday at the Vatican, Biden assured on his Twitter account that the compassion and defense of the poor and those who suffer from hunger, conflict, and persecution of the religious leader “serve as a pole star for the world.”.
“May we all carry his example with us as we go about our day,” added Biden.
According to the US president, the pope told him that he is “a good Catholic” who must “continue to receive communion,” after a 75-minute meeting in which they discussed the climate crisis and assistance to migration, and where Closeness and cordiality reigned.
Francisco and Biden clasped hands in friendship, according to the images provided by the Vatican, while they spoke and there were also moments when the pontiff laughed at the words of the president, the second Catholic president in the history of the United States. to be received by a pope, after John Kennedy.
This cordiality seemed to turn the page on relations between the Vatican and the United States during the Donald Trump administration.
In addition, the Democratic president visited the Vatican amid criticism from the most conservative sectors of the American Catholic Church for his position in favor of abortion rights, which does not seem to have strained the meeting.
The private meeting between the two lasted 75 minutes, exceeding the 50 that Francisco dedicated to Barack Obama and just 30 to Trump, while later Biden spent almost another hour with the secretary of state and head of Vatican diplomacy, Pietro Parolin.
According to a note from the Vatican, during the private meeting they spoke of “the common commitment to the protection and care of the planet, the health situation and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” but the pope also insisted to Biden on ” the issue of refugees and assistance to migrants “.