Vatican City: Joe Biden arrived at the Vatican on Friday for a meeting with Pope Francis is expected to be centered on climate change and injustice but which has been overshadowed by the debate at home about the support of the US President for abortion rights.
The president’s motorbike approached under strict security, made more intense because Italian capital simultaneously prepared to host the G20 world leader summit this weekend.
Swiss officers in traditional red uniforms, yellow and blue and holding high giving Biden and his wife, Jill, salute with honor because they and the US delegation arrived at the San Damaso page from the Apostolic Palace.
The aim is flying from the central balcony.
The head of the household of Pontifical, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, took them to the third floor of the palace, where officially dressed in controlled known as “Pope’s gentlemen” waited to escort them to the aisle-painting in the Papal Library.
The meeting between the first Latin American Pope and the second Catholic President in US history took place amid a fierce debate in the United States Church, where Biden was under pressure from conservatively regarding the position of abortion.
The President, who went to the weekly Mass regularly and saved the picture of the whales behind his desk at the Oval office, said he personally opposed abortion but could not impose his views as elected leaders.
The most passionate critics in the US Church hierarchy said Biden, a Democrat, must be prohibited from receiving fellowship, the central sacrament of faith, and doubled in front of the meeting.
“Dear Pope Francis, you have bravely stated that abortion is ‘murder.’ Please Challenge the President of Biden on this critical problem.
His persistent support from abortion is embarrassing for the church and scandal for the world, “Thomas Tobin Bishop from Providence, Rhode Island, said in a tweet.
On its website, other American conservatives, Cardinal Raymond Burke, without naming Biden, talked about “grave scandals caused by Catholic politicians like that.” “They have it, in fact, contributing significantly to the cultural consolidation of death in the United States, where the procurement of abortion is only a fact of everyday life,” Burke said.
In June, a divided conference from the US Roman Catholic Bishop chose to develop a statement about the fellowship that several bishops said they had to specifically warn Catholic politicians, including Biden.
The bishops, who went ahead even though the Vatican warned that it would sow disputes rather than unity, would take another problem next month.
Asked about US Communion debate last month, the Pope told reporters that the abortion of “murder”.
But he also seems to criticize the US Catholic bishop because it deals with politically problems than pastoral ways.
“Communion is not a prize for the perfect.
Communion is a gift, the presence of Jesus and His Church,” said the Pope, added that the bishops must use “affection and tenderness” with Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.
Since its election in 2013 as the first Latin American Pope, Francis said that while the church must oppose abortion, this problem should not be a battle that focuses on cultural wars that reduce the attention of things such as immigration and poverty.