President Joe Biden meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican

VATICAN CITY — President Joe Biden and Pope Francis are gathering astatine the Vatican.

The world's 2 astir notable Roman Catholics program to sermon the COVID-19 pandemic, clime alteration and poorness during their league connected Friday.

Biden arrived astatine the Vatican with his wife, Jill, and said, "It's bully to beryllium back."

The league is taking spot down closed doors Friday aft the Vatican abruptly canceled a unrecorded broadcast of a information of the meeting. According to The Associated Press, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said canceling the nationalist information of the gathering reflected "normal procedure" amid the pandemic.

The AP reports that previously, reporters had planned to connection unrecorded sum of Biden really greeting Francis successful the Apostolic Palace Throne Room, arsenic good arsenic unrecorded footage of the 2 men sitting down to statesman their backstage talks successful Francis' library.

The president takes pridefulness successful his Catholic religion and uses it arsenic a motivation guidepost to signifier galore of his societal and economical policies. But his enactment for termination rights and same-sex matrimony has enactment him astatine likelihood with galore U.S. bishops.

Since Biden took bureau successful January, U.S. bishops person weighed advising him not to instrumentality Communion if helium continues to enactment termination rights, though they person not yet taken specified an action.

Later connected Friday, Biden volition conscionable with Italian PM Mario Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron successful abstracted meetings. Over the weekend, Biden volition question to Scotland to be a U.N. Climate Summit.