(CP) President Joe Biden offered Pope Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, recognizing him because the recipient of the nation's highest civilian honor. The Biden administration introduced the distinction after a dialog between the president and the pontiff.
Biden “spoke with His Holiness Pope Francis and named him as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction,” the White Home mentioned in an announcement Saturday.
The award is a part of “the nation's highest civilian honor, awarded to people who’ve made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or safety of america, world peace, or different important social, public, or non-public endeavors.”
Officers mentioned the event marks Biden's first Medal of Honor award.
The official quotation for the award reads: “As a younger man, Jorge Bergoglio sought a profession in science earlier than his religion led him to dwell with the Jesuits. For many years, he served the deaf and susceptible all through Argentina. As Pope Francis, his mission to serve the poor by no means stopped.”
The quotation describes him as a “loving pastor” who “joyfully” solutions kids's questions on God and as a “difficult trainer” who “instructions us to combat for peace and defend the planet.”
The textual content additionally refers to him as a “welcoming chief” who “reaches out to totally different faiths”, noting the importance of his place as “the primary pope from the southern hemisphere”.
“Above all, he’s the individuals's pope — a light-weight of religion, hope and love that shines brightly world wide,” the Biden administration concluded.
Though such recognition often includes a ceremony on the White Home, no instant particulars of any associated occasion had been offered.
Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned final week that Biden wouldn’t go to Rome due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
Jean-Pierre mentioned that when the president returned from Los Angeles, he “determined to cancel his upcoming journey to Italy to deal with the complete federal response within the coming days.” However she didn’t say whether or not the go to can be rescheduled earlier than the tip of Biden's time period as president on January 20, solely including that extra data can be offered by the White Home quickly.
Biden initially deliberate to journey to Italy on Thursday night time and meet with Francis over the weekend.
Biden, the primary Roman Catholic to function president of america since John F. Kennedy, has beforehand clashed with the management of the U.S. Catholic Church over his staunch assist for abortion.
In October 2021, Biden acquired communion at St. Patrick's Church in Rome a day after he mentioned Francis had known as him a “good Catholic” amid the then-debate over whether or not pro-abortion Catholic politicians ought to be given the sacrament.
Advocates of denying communion to Biden and different pro-abortion Catholic politicians have pointed to the Catholic Church's Code of Canon Legislation, which states that those that “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are to not be admitted to Holy Communion” as justification for his or her stance.
Francis has additionally confronted quite a few controversies, together with backlash over his resolution to advertise transgenderism by inviting a gaggle of trans-identified males to dine with him throughout a 2023 luncheon on the Vatican.
© The Christian Publish
