Biden honors Pope with special award

US President Joe Biden (r) welcomes Pope Francis to the G7 summit. The heads of state and government from the seven industrialized nations USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan are meeting for their annual summit at the luxury hotel Borgo Egnazia in Apulia. +++ dpa Bildfunk +++

Keystone

Shortly before he leaves office, US President Joe Biden honors Pope Francis in a special way. The head of the Catholic Church will receive the "Medal of Freedom with Distinction", the White House in Washington announced. Biden spoke to the Pope on the phone on Saturday and informed him of the award.

Keystone-SDA

11.01.2025, 22:08

Biden had originally wanted to be in Italy in person this weekend. An audience with the Pope had been planned for Friday. However, the US President canceled the trip at short notice due to the devastating fires in California.

"The pope of the people"

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the USA. It honors people who have made a significant contribution "to the security or national interest of the United States, world peace and cultural or other significant public issues". Biden had already presented several of these awards during his time in office. However, the White House emphasized that this is the only time that Biden has honored someone with the "Medal of Freedom with Distinction".

The reason given was that Francis had "never abandoned his mission to serve the poor", having previously served the voiceless and vulnerable in Argentina for decades. He is "the pope of the people".

Biden is a devout Catholic and only the second Catholic president in US history after John F. Kennedy (1961 to 1963). The Democrat goes to church every weekend. On January 20, Biden will leave office and hand over to the Republican Donald Trump.

In his previous years in office, Biden met the Pope several times. Francis is the head of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide and also head of state of the Vatican.