What to expect when Biden and Francis meet this week

When Pope Francis met U.S. President Joe Biden at the Vatican in October 2021, the president praised the pontiff as “the most significant warrior for peace I’ve ever met.” Nearly three years later, as the two world leaders prepare to meet again on June 14, peace will very likely be the main topic of discussion, with the two men representing sharply different visions of what that requires in the present moment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The first closely watched meeting between the two heads of state took place against the backdrop of a different kind of conflict, where certain U.S. bishops were battling to deny Communion to the nation’s second Catholic president over his support for abortion rights. The pope — who told reporters ahead of that encounter that he had never denied the sacrament to anyone and warned against politicizing the Eucharist — seemed to want to send a clear signal where he landed on that debate.

In fact, after the pope-POTUS meeting, Biden told journalists that Francis had described him as a “good Catholic” during their private exchange and said that the regular Mass-going president should continue to receive Communion.

But as they meet for their second tête-à-tête of Biden’s presidency — this time in southern Italy on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, where the pope will deliver a speech on artificial intelligence — it will be the two ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine that consume much of their conversation.

Pope Francis stands by an olive tree with Raphael Schutz, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Issa Kassissieh, the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See, Rabbi Alberto Funaro of Rome and Abdellah Redouane, secretary-general of Rome’s Muslim community, June 7 in the Vatican Gardens. The tree was planted 10 years ago during a prayer service with Pope Francis, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (CNS/Vatican)
Pope Francis stands by an olive tree with Raphael Schutz, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Issa Kassissieh, the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See, Rabbi Alberto Funaro of Rome and Abdellah Redouane, secretary-general of Rome’s Muslim community, June 7 in the Vatican Gardens. The tree was planted 10 years ago during a prayer service with Pope Francis, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (CNS/Vatican Media)

On one side will be a pope who has repeatedly called for a cease-fire in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel last year and who may or may not have referred to the siege of Gaza as a “genocide,” depending on whose reports one believes. On the other side will be a U.S. president whose administration has continued to reaffirm its ironclad support of Israel, including the recent sale of more than $1 billion in arms, and who has balked at the notion of Israeli military conduct against Palestinians being compared to genocide.

Soon after the conflict began, it was the pope who called Biden in an effort to help lower the temperature in the Middle East and to help “identify paths to peace.” Eight months later, as they speak again, it’s unlikely that two sides will relitigate their different approaches to the events of the past year, but instead, seek to build momentum for new paths to peace, including possibly the recently formulated U.S.-backed plan for a cease-fire.

On Ukraine — where boosting support for the beleaguered country in its third year under siege from Russia is a top priority for the G7 agenda — there’s even more distance between the two leaders.

Since the beginning of the conflict, a series of clumsy statements from Francis — from his suggestion that the conflict could be the result of NATO “barking” at the door of Russia to his more recent remarks that appeared to imply Ukraine should have the “courage of the white flag” to negotiate the war’s end — have led to an uneasy relationship between the Holy See and much of the western world, including the United States. lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka lka

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