Biden's upcoming meeting with Pope Francis comes amid rift with U.S. bishops

President Biden is slated to meet with Pope Francis for his first time as president just weeks before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will convene in part to draft a document guiding bishops regarding whether politicians who support abortion should be barred from Communion.

Any document that the bishops adopt when they convene in Baltimore next month is unlikely to mention Biden or any other politician by name.

The Bidens usually attend Mass at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church when they are in Washington, D.C., which said they "will not deny the Eucharist to persons presenting themselves to receive it."

"As Pope Francis recently reaffirmed, communion should be viewed ‘not as a prize for the perfect, but as a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak,'" the church, quoting the pope. "None of us, whether we stand in the pews or behind the altar, is worthy to receive it. The great gift of the Holy Eucharist is too sacred to be made a political issue."