Joe Biden’s first meeting as U.S. president with Pope Francis at the Vatican will not be broadcast live.
Joe Biden’s meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis at the Vatican will not be broadcast live. Vatican-accredited journalists and photographers have not been granted access to the initial handshake and have objected in writing to the Vatican’s cancelation on Thursday. Associated Press confirmed in a statement on Thursday that it, along with members of the Vatican Correspondents’ Association, had complained to the Vatican about the canceled live broadcast and had demanded explanations. Pre-pandemic Vatican protocols allowed journalists, including the president’s media pool, access to the greeting and the traditional and ceremonial gift exchange prior to a private conversation. Steven Portnoy, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, announced its solidarity with Vatican reporters in “expressing our disappointment that the world won’t see live pictures of President Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis.” He wrote: “Reporters have been covering the papal audiences of American presidents since Woodrow Wilson sat w/Benedict I in January 1919. Most recently, members of our WH press corps helped bring the world pictures of Francis’s mtgs [meetings] with Obama & Trump.
