US President Joe Biden arrived at the Vatican Friday for a meeting with Pope Francis. The two discussed global challenges ranging from the COVID pandemic to climate change and poverty.

"It's good to be back," Biden declared as he arrived in the San Damaso courtyard.

Biden has previously met the pontiff three times but this is their first meeting since he was elected president.

He shook the hands of a Swiss Guard and introduced himself as "Jill's husband" before going into his private audience with the pope. Later on Friday, official sources said that the meeting had gone well over its allotted time to 75 minutes, much longer than most papal audiences.

Before he left the Vatican, the White House said Biden thanked Francis for "his advocacy for the world's poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution." 

The president then praised the pope's "leadership in fighting the climate crisis, as well as his advocacy to ensure the pandemic ends for everyone through vaccine sharing and an equitable global economic recovery."

Biden's faith front and center

Biden, only the second-ever Catholic head of state in US history after John F. Kennedy, is a devout Catholic and almost never misses Sunday Mass.

The US leader takes pride in his faith and has spoken of the strength he drew from it when faced with personal tragedies like the death of his first wife and daughter in a car accident and later that of his son Beau due to cancer.  

Despite Biden and the pope sharing a range of concerns and a great deal of agreement, there are also sources of disagreement, for instance on the issue of abortion.

Biden supports abortion rights, while Francis has described terminating pregnancies as "murder."

The US president's stance in support of abortion and same-sex marriage has drawn the ire of many US bishops, with some of them demanding that Catholic politicians supportive of those issues be denied communion.

Biden: Submarine deal was done in a 'clumsy' manner

Later on Friday, Biden met French President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 summit in Rome and said the United States does not have an older and more loyal ally than France.

Biden is in the Italian capital to attend the first in-person G20 summit since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. He will then head to Glasgow for the UN Climate Summit COP26.

Upon meeting Macron, Biden said there is no place in the world where the United States cannot cooperate with France as the two countries seek to address the fallout in bilateral relations, after Australia scrapped a French submarine deal in favor of a US-UK agreement.

The US and French presidents greeted each other warmly, with handshakes and shoulder-grabs, before their first face-to-face meeting since the deal that fractured relations was publicly announced in September.

"I think, what happened was, to use an English phrase, what we did was clumsy," Biden said, adding the submarine deal "was not done with a lot of grace."

"I was under the impression that France had been informed long before," he added.

The US-led submarine arrangement supplanted a prior French deal to supply Australia with its own submarines. Washington argued that the move, which will arm Canberra with higher-quality nuclear-powered boats, will better enable Australia to contain Chinese encroachment in the region.

Macron: France keen to move on

Macron said the two allies would develop "stronger cooperation" to prevent a similar misunderstanding from happening again.

"What really matters now is what we will do together in the coming weeks, the coming months, the coming years," Macron said.

Biden is also set to meet separately with summit hosts Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Biden will then head to Scotland on Sunday night for the COP26 climate summit, where he will lead a large US delegation to showcase America's plans.

In Glasgow, Biden is set to deliver a major address on climate change and attempt to push for US leadership on the topic. 

What will Biden talk about?

During his European visit, Biden is expected to address the Iranian nuclear program and Iran's announcement that it may return to talks next month in Vienna.

He is also set to persuade wealthier US allies to step up their commitments to share COVID-19 vaccine stocks with lower- and middle-income countries.   

But Biden's main goal will be to make a strong case for democracy, in a world where it is increasingly under pressure. He is expected to argue even with all its troubles, essential aspects such as fair elections and representative government, are still better than autocracies.

Biden's position in the US

The US president delayed his departure to meet with Congressional Democrats to push his domestic priorities on infrastructure, climate change and social welfare. 

Voting on the infrastructure plan in the House of Representatives was ultimately put on hold after progressives demanded a vote on the separate climate and social spending bill.

The latter proposed piece of legislation appeared to get the go-ahead on Thursday after being watered down enough to get the support of two key Democrat senators who said they did not support the bill.

Biden's Europe trip comes as he faces an increasingly pessimistic nation at home and souring views of his handling of the nation's economy. In a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 41% of Americans now approve of Biden's economic stewardship, down from 49% in August and a sharp reversal since March, when 60% approved.

Only about a third of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, also a significant decline since earlier this year when about half said so.

sri,ab,es, jsi/rt (AP, Reuters, AFP)