White House says Biden will visit Pope Francis, Meloni in final international trip of his presidency

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will travel to Italy next month to meet with Pope Francis and top Italian officials for what is expected to be the final international trip of his presidency.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that Biden will also meet with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella during the Jan. 9-12 trip.

Biden accepted Francis' invitation to visit the Vatican during a phone call Thursday, according to the White House.

“The President thanked the Pope for his continued advocacy to alleviate global suffering, including his work to advance human rights and protect religious freedoms,” the White House said in a statement.

Jean-Pierre said Biden and Francis will “discuss efforts to advance peace around the world." She said Biden intends to use his final meeting with Meloni to “discuss important challenges facing the world” and to thank her for Italy's leadership as the country's winds up its yearlong, rotating presidency at the Group of Seven.

Overseas visits this late in a U.S. presidency aren't typical. The last president to travel overseas in the final month of his presidency was fellow one-termer George H.W. Bush, who traveled in early January 1993 to Moscow to sign a nuclear treaty and to Paris for talks with French President François Mitterrand about the Bosnian war, according to State Department historical records.

Biden, a practicing Roman Catholic, last met privately with Francis earlier this year while in Italy for the G7 leaders meeting.

He also met with Francis at the Vatican in 2021, when they had a wide-ranging conversation about climate change, poverty and the coronavirus pandemic. Their warm conversation also touched on the loss of the president’s adult son Beau, who died of cancer in 2015, and included jokes about aging well.

Biden's support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage has put him at odds with many U.S. bishops, some of whom have suggested he should be denied Communion.

But following the Vatican meeting in 2021, Biden said Francis called him a “good Catholic” who should keep receiving Communion.

Biden is set to arrive soon after the Vatican begins the Holy Year, which officially opens on Christmas Eve.

Holy Years are generally celebrated every 25 to 50 years, and over the centuries have been used to encourage the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome to pray at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and obtain an indulgence — the ancient church tradition related to the forgiveness of sins that roughly amounts to a “get out of Purgatory free” card.

Pilgrims who pass through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica can obtain the indulgence, and the Vatican is expecting some 32 million people will flock to Rome over 2025 to participate in the pilgrimage.

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Winfield reported from Rome. AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.