Pope Francis Meets Privately with US President Joe Biden at the G7 Summit - FULL TEXT Whitehouse Release

President Joe Biden privately met with Pope Francis on June 14th in the evening in Apulia, Italy, at the Group of Seven (G7) Summit to discuss several issues. The pope also met with the other G7 leaders following his historic address opening the summit.
He is the first Pope to ever address the forum, which brings together the leaders of the US, UK, Italy, France, Canada, Germany, and Japan. The Group of Seven, founded in 1975, is an intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union is a "non-enumerated member".

FULL TEXT: Readout of President Biden’s Meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met with His Holiness Pope Francis today on the margins of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Apulia, Italy. The leaders emphasized the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and a hostage deal to get the hostages home and address the critical humanitarian crisis in Gaza. President Biden thanked Pope Francis for the Vatican’s work to address the humanitarian impacts of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, including his efforts to help return kidnapped Ukrainian children to their families. President Biden also reaffirmed his deep appreciation for the Pope’s tireless advocacy for the poor and those suffering from persecution, the effects of climate change, and conflict around the world.https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/14/readout-of-president-bidens-meeting-with-his-holiness-pope-francis/

Whitehouse Press Briefing Excerpt Prior to G7 Meeting on the Scheduled  Topics for the Papal Meeting

Following that, the President will have an opportunity to meet with His Holiness Pope Francis later this afternoon, or early evening. And there, I expect that some of the topics that they’ll have an opportunity to discuss will be largely similar. I would expect there will be a discussion of Ukraine where the Holy See has been actively engaged. Cardinal Zuppi, in particular, has been an envoy working to return Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported across the border, separated from their families. Of course, it’s one of the huge tragedies of this war.

And the Holy See has also been engaged in trying to promote a peace agreement. And Cardinal Parolin, if I understand correctly, will be the Vatican’s representative to the Switzerland peace conference that will kick off this Saturday, where Vice President Harris will represent the United States.

I would expect with Pope Francis that the President will also have an opportunity to discuss the Middle East and then also the issues of artificial intelligence and climate change, which are issues that are of great concern and interest to Pope Francis but also to the United States.

And I’ll just say on AI, I think we are both interested in responsible use of artificial intelligence, preserving human dignity and human rights. And so they’ll have a chance to get into that. That’s also going to be one of the topics at today’s G7 plenary session, with the participation of Pope Francis, and then also climate change, which is an issue that is near and dear to both leaders.
Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/06/14/background-press-call-previewing-the-presidents-second-day-at-the-g7/
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2021: President Biden also met with Pope Francis in October 2021 for nearly 75 minutes speaking on poverty, climate change, and other issues. The 2021 encounter was Joe Biden's first in-person meeting with the pontiff as president. As Vice-president Biden had met the pope three times.
Image Source: Vatican Media

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