Rome: Joe Biden, the second Catholic to serve as US president, emotionally told his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican and spoke vigorously about the support he had given for years.
“He is all I learned about Catholics from the time I was a child who came from elementary school through high school,” Biden, who attended Catholic schools throughout his childhood, said Sunday at a press conference 20 parables.
In Rome, which he also uses as an opportunity to visit the Vatican City.
“He is only a well-esteemed man who is good and decent.
And we keep in touch.” Biden mostly expressed questions about the efforts of conservative US bishops to forbid him from receiving fellowship because his support for the abortion was ratified, noting that the Pope since John XXIII, who was on duty From 1958 to 1963, it has talked about “how we reach out and embrace with differences.” He mentioned that when Francis was asked about his view of homosexuality, he said, “Who am I to judge?” A few hours after the Friday meeting with the Pope, Biden offered a little insight into where Francis was standing on the efforts of the US bishops, saying that the Pope told him that he had to continue to accept the fellowship.
While Biden said he did not want to be too “personal” about the meaning of Francis to him, he offered two personal stories about their relationship.
Francis “gave a large consolation for my family” after his older son, Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, said Biden.
“I lost the actual part of my soul when I lost Beau, my son,” he said, choking.
When Francis visited the US just a few months after Beau’s death, he spent a significant time with Biden, who was then the vice president, and his extended family.
“He is not only generally talking about it.
He knows about him.
He knows what he does.
He knows who he is.
He knows where he goes to school.
He knows what he is a man,” he recalled.
“It has an impact on the catharsis in his children and our wives and our family that it means a lot.” Biden also offers several details of the congratulations call he received from the Pope afterwards after he won the presidency last November.
“He called to tell me how much he appreciated the fact that I would focus on the poor and focus on the needs of troubled people,” the President said.