President Joe Biden delivered a perplexing answer Friday about whether he and Pope Francis discussed abortion during their 90-minute meeting at the Vatican.

“No, it didn’t. It came up,” Biden told reporters when asked if “the issue of abortion [came] up at all” during his meeting with the pope. “We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic, and I should keep receiving communion.”

US MEDIA BARRED FROM BIDEN’S VATICAN MEETING WITH POPE FRANCIS

Biden’s pro-abortion rights stance has rattled some Catholics in the United States, including 168 bishops who sought to block the president from receiving communion. The Vatican shot down that suggestion in June, though Pope Francis has not publicly commented on the subject.

U.S. reporters, photographers, and television crews traveling with the president were barred from his meeting with the pope, and the Vatican supplied a heavily edited video recapping the event. Senior administration officials characterized the meeting as lighthearted.

“The engagement between the two was very warm when the delegation arrived in the room,” one White House official said of the lengthy visit. “There was laughter and clear rapport between President Biden and Pope Francis.”

The White House’s readout of the face-to-face meeting, the second between a Catholic president and the pope, noted that “President Biden thanked His Holiness for his advocacy for the world’s poor and those suffering from hunger, conflict, and persecution.” He also “lauded Pope Francis’ 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,” according to the report.

During the meeting, Biden gifted the pope a presidential challenge coin. He called Francis the “most significant warrior for peace I’ve ever met,” adding that his late son, Beau Biden, would have wanted him to give the pope the gift.

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Original Location: Biden and pope give bizarre answer on abortion; told president he’s a ‘good Catholic’

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