Biden postpones his meeting with the Pope due to the fires that devastate Los Angeles

“I think this visit is a way to underline the US relationship with the Vatican a few hours before a president hostile to Francis, but voted for by the majority of American Catholics, arrives in the Oval Office,” explains Massimo Franco, fine observer of relations between the Holy See and Washington. “I have the impression that he wants to remember it in view of a period that will be tense,” he highlights.

In his book “Parallel Empires”, Massimo Franco argues that despite the enormous contrast between the US and the Vatican in terms of geographical, economic extension and military power, both are the only two powers in the West with planetary projection. The Italian political scientist Maria Antonietta Calabró says that it is rather an alliance between “the Throne and the altar”, which is also the title of her latest book. “Certainly the United States represents the throne, the strongest expression of power in the world today, and the Vatican the altar, the moral authority of the Successor of Peter,” he explains. But both agree that the health of relations between Washington and the Vatican is vital.

Indebted to the Catholic voter

However, while from the Vatican they clarify that their disposition regarding Donald Trump’s second term will be to seek common ground to be able to collaborate, from Mar-a-Lago the message is ambivalent. On the one hand, direct collision is avoided. When last week, after being asked by the Pope, Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned, the future president harshly criticized the measure, but did not mention the Pontiff.

On the other hand, Trump feels indebted to the Catholic electorate and has wanted to include Catholic heavyweights in his team. According to the Washington Post, 59% of Catholic voters supported Donald Trump and 39% supported Kamala Harris. This was not the case in the 2020 elections, when the majority voted for Joe Biden, also a Catholic.

A hostile gesture towards the Church

Curiously, Kamala Harris refused to participate in the traditional dinner of the two presidential candidates organized by the Archdiocese of New York during the electoral campaign, a gesture that many considered hostile towards the Church. But the truth is that the sensitivity of the 52 million Catholics oscillates between “liberals”, who specify their faith in the defense of social issues, and “conservatives”, who consider the defense of values ​​such as life, bioethics as a priority. and the family.

In response, the new president has recruited several Catholics to his hard core of collaborators. For example, Vice President JD Vance, his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Minister of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the person in charge of the borders and its mass deportation program of migrants, former police officer Tom Homan. Also, five days before Christmas, Donald Trump announced that his ambassador to the Holy See will be Brian Burch, president of the “Catholic Vote” lobby, who on social media has been critical of Pope Francis. «Brian loves his Church and the United States. “He represented me very well during the last elections, where I got more Catholic votes than any other presidential candidate in history,” Trump wrote on December 20 on his social network “Truth Social.”

Burch, 49, has nine children. Although he once accused the Pope on Twitter of trying to please progressive Catholics, in his first statement as “ambassador-designate” he was much more cordial. «The Catholic Church is the largest and most important religious institution in the world, and its relationship with the United States is of vital importance. “I am committed to working with the leaders of the Vatican and the new Administration to promote the dignity of all people and the common good,” he wrote.

Cautious about Trump’s statements

Neither party is interested in the conflict. For this reason, in recent months Pope Francis has been very cautious in his statements about Donald Trump. In September, a few weeks before the vote, he was asked if a Catholic voter should support a candidate who wants to deport millions of immigrants or another who promises measures in favor of abortion. “Both positions are against life, expelling migrants and murdering children,” Francisco then responded. «In political morality, in general, it is said that not voting is an evil. You must vote. And you must choose the lesser evil. Who is the lesser evil, the lady or the gentleman? Don’t know. Let each one choose conscientiously. “I am not an American and I will not vote there,” he said.

The most serious clash occurred in distant February 2016, when in reference to Trump, then a Republican candidate, the Pope said that “a person who thinks only about building walls and not bridges is not a Christian.” “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is shameful,” Trump responded. “The Pope only hears one part of the story, he did not see the crime, drug trafficking and the negative economic impact that current policies have in the US,” he added to justify it.

The truth is that in any case, Pope Francis’ relationship with Joe Biden has not been idyllic. During the only meeting they have had so far, in 2021, they found common ground on issues such as measures against poverty or climate change. They had it more difficult on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and partly also after the Hamas attacks against Israel in October 2023, Francis has not hidden his bitterness because Washington has supported only armed solutions to the conflicts, without seeking alternatives.