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Biden meets pope as abortion debate flares back home -Breaking

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© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and Pope Francis meet at Fiumicino Airport ahead of their trip to Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26. The president will be there October 29th, 2021. REUTERS/K

Philip Pullella and Jeff Mason

VATICAN CITY(Reuters) – Joe Biden has arrived in Vatican City for a meeting to Pope Francis on Friday. Although the discussion will focus on climate and injustice, the Vatican visit was overshadowed by domestic debate about Pope Francis’ support of abortion rights.

President Obama’s procession approached with tight security. It was intensified by the intense preparations of the Italian capital to host this weekend’s G20 summit.

Biden was greeted by the traditional Swiss Guards, wearing their blue, yellow, and blue uniforms, and holding halberds, as he and his wife Jill arrived at the San Damaso courtyard in the Apostolic Palace. The U.S. flag floated from the central balcony.

Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza was the head of Pontifical Household. He led them up to the third level of the palace where formal-dressed servants, known as “pope’s gentlemen”, waited for them. They then escorted them through frescoed halls towards the papal library.

This meeting takes place in the middle of intense debate at the United States Church. Biden is under severe pressure by conservatives for his inconsistent position regarding the issue over abortion rights.

He attends weekly Mass, and keeps a photograph of the Pope in his Oval Office desk. The president has stated that although he opposes abortion personally, he cannot force his beliefs on elected leaders.

Biden’s most ardent opponents in the U.S. Catholic hierarchy said that Biden should not be allowed to receive communion, the central sacrament, and that he should be doubled before the meeting.

Pope Francis: You have declared abortion a crime. On this crucial issue, please challenge President Biden. “His persistent support for abortion is an embarrassment to the Church, and a scandal the world,” said Bishop Thomas Tobin, Providence, Rhode Island in a tweet.

Another conservative American, Cardinal Raymond Burke (without naming Biden), spoke on his website about the “grave scandal” caused by Catholic politicians.

Burke explained that “they have in fact contributed in a substantial way to the consolidation a culture death in the United States in which procured abortion is just a fact of everyday life.”

A divided U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops conference voted in June to create a Communion Statement. Some bishops believe it should be directed at Catholic politicians like Biden.

Despite warnings from the Vatican that they would cause discord, the bishops went ahead with it. They will return to this issue next month.

When asked about U.S. communion, the pope said that abortion was “murder”. However, he was also critical of U.S. Catholic priests who dealt with the topic in a more pastoral manner than they did in a religious way.

“Communion doesn’t win the prize of perfection. The pope stated that Communion was a gift from Jesus Christ and the Church, and that the bishops must show compassion and tenderness to Catholic politicians supporting abortion rights.

Francis was the first Latin American pope to be elected in 2013. He has maintained that the Church shouldn’t oppose abortion but that it shouldn’t become an all-consuming culture war that diverts attention away from issues like poverty, immigration, and so on.

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