Pope Francis is due to receive the United States President,
Joe Biden, who is only the second Catholic head of state in the history of the
U.S.
According to the White House, the meeting with Biden and his
wife, Jill, at the Vatican on Friday at 12 p.m. (1000 GMT) would focus on the
fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Their focus would also be on climate change and the global
fight against poverty, among other issues.
In the afternoon, Biden is scheduled to meet the Italian
Government.
Afterwards, he will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in
order to smooth the waters after the recent rift in relations with the ally
over the submarine crisis.
Biden’s second trip abroad since taking office in January
takes him first to Rome, where he plans to attend the G20 summit of leading
economic nations from Saturday.
From Monday, he plans to take part in the COP26 World
Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
It remains unclear whether Biden’s audience with the Pope
would include the controversial issue of abortion.
Biden’s government supports the right to abortion, which is
at odds with the position of the Catholic Church.
Individual U.S. bishops have called for Biden to be excluded
from taking Communion. The 78-year-old, who went to church regularly, was
considered a devout Catholic.
On his first day in office, Biden’s office already contained
family photos and a photograph of him with Pope Francis.
The first Catholic president in U.S. history was John F
Kennedy (1961-63).
Biden’s meeting with Macron is also eagerly awaited.
The relationship between the transatlantic partners has been
very tense lately, as the U.S. launched a security pact with Australia and
Britain in the Indo-Pacific in September without consulting Paris.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com