The White House announced on Thursday that President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will have an audience with Pope Francis at the end of the month while overseas for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will have an audience with Pope Francis at the end of the month

  • The Bidens will travel overseas to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome and the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland

  • The meeting with the Pope comes amid a debate within the Catholic Church about whether or not Biden and other politicians who support abortion rights should be denied Communion

  • Pope Francis said last month that Catholic bishops must minister with “compassion and tenderness,” not condemnation, to politicians who support abortion rights and warned that priests shouldn’t let politics enter into questions about receiving Communion

The Bidens will travel to Rome for the G20 Leaders’ Summit on Oct. 30 and 31. The White House said they will provide updated information about the president’s individual meetings with leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

Before the G20 summit, the president and first lady will meet with His Holiness Pope Francis on Oct. 29.

“They will discuss working together on efforts grounded in respect for fundamental human dignity, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling the climate crisis, and caring for the poor,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

The Bidens will travel from Rome to Glasgow from Nov. 1-2 to participate in the World Leader Summit at the start of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), the White House also announced Thursday.

Biden, who is just the second Catholic president in U.S. history, is a devout practitioner of his Catholic faith who frequently attends Mass. 

The meeting with the Pope comes amid a debate within the Catholic Church about whether or not Biden and other politicians who support abortion rights should be denied Communion. 

U.S. bishops agreed to draft a “teaching document” that many of them hope will rebuke Catholic politicians, including Biden, for receiving Communion despite their support for abortion rights.

Pope Francis said last month that Catholic bishops must minister with “compassion and tenderness,” not condemnation, to politicians who support abortion rights and warned that priests shouldn’t let politics enter into questions about receiving Communion.

Pope Francis said unequivocally that abortion is “murder,” but urged that granting Communion must be a pastoral decision, not a political one.

"The problem is not theological, it's pastoral," His Holiness told reporters. "How we bishops deal with this principle. We must be pastors, also with those who are excommunicated. Like God with passion and tenderness. The Bible says so.”

“Whenever the church, in order to defend a principle, didn’t do it pastorally, it has taken political sides,” Pope Francis continued. “If a pastor leaves the pastorality of the church, he immediately becomes a politician.”

When Biden was inaugurated, Pope Francis released a statement extending “cordial good wishes” to the 46th president “and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high office.”

“Under your leadership, may the American people continue to draw strength from the lofty political, ethical and religious values that have inspired the nation since its founding,” Pope Francis continued. “At a time when the grave crises facing our human family call for farsighted and united responses, I pray that your decisions will be guided by a concern for building a society marked by authentic justice and freedom, together with unfailing respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those who have no voice.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.