The world will not be able to watch the second Catholic US president greeting the head of the Catholic church. The Vatican on Thursday abruptly cancelled the planned live broadcast of President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis on Friday.
The revised live broadcast of Biden’s visit will now only cover the arrival of the president’s motorcade in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said the revised plan reflected the “normal procedure” established during the coronavirus pandemic for all visiting heads of state or government.
The live coverage of Biden actually greeting Francis in the Palace Throne Room, as well as the live footage of the two men sitting down to begin their private talks in Francis’ library now stands cancelled.
The Vatican said it would provide edited footage of the encounter after the fact to accredited media, as it provides for other visiting heads of state. Bruni did not comment on why the Vatican originally announced fuller live coverage.
Biden will meet Pope Francis for the first time as the President of the United States, although he has met the pontiff three previous times.
The audience was being closely monitored since US bishops are due to meet in a few weeks for their annual fall convention, with one of the agenda items inspired by conservatives who contend that Biden’s support for abortion rights should disqualify him from receiving Communion. Though any document that emerges from the bishops’ conference is not expected to mention Biden by name, it’s possible there could be a clear message of rebuke.
Francis has strongly upheld the church’s opposition to abortion, calling it “murder.” But he has said bishops should be pastors, not politicians.
The Vatican has provided live television coverage for the visits of major heads of state for years, including President Donald Trump, and had scheduled such coverage on Friday for Biden and for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is also in Rome for a Group of 20 meeting.
A live broadcast was particularly important because the Vatican hasn’t allowed independent photographers and journalists into papal audiences with visiting leaders since the start of the pandemic. The Vatican has continued to cite the pandemic as a reason to deny external news media access to the beginnings and ends of papal audiences with leaders, even though they are allowed into other papal events.
It is during those moments in the pope’s library that reporters can view the gifts that are exchanged, watch as the formal photograph is taken, and overhear remarks as the leaders arrive and depart to get a sense of how the visit is going. Only the pope’s official photographer and Vatican video journalists are now allowed in.
The Vatican correspondents’ association has protested the cancellation of such pool access and several media outlets formally complained about Thursday’s cut of the live Biden-pope broadcast and asked for an explanation.
The head of the White House Correspondent’s Association, Steven Portnoy of CBS News Radio, expressed disappointment at the lack of live coverage as well as the absence of independent media access. Biden is traveling with his own pool of reporters who would normally be allowed into the pope’s library for the beginning and end of the audience alongside reporters accredited to the Vatican.
(With AP inputs)
