Biden pays his respect to late Pope Benedict at the Vatican Embassy in Washington

President Joe Biden paid his respects to the late Pope Benedict Thursday night by making an unannounced visit to the Vatican embassy in Washington, DC

“It is a great honor,” Biden, the country’s second Catholic president, told Vatican officials upon their arrival. “I used to be his neighbor across the street,” he added.

The Vatican embassy on Massachusetts Ave. NW is located across from the Naval Observatory, the official residence of the US vice presidents.

The president’s stop at the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See, as it is officially called, lasted about 30 minutes, and he spent about five minutes writing a message in a book of condolences for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

He had a card with him spelling out the message, photographers at the scene captured.

‘Together with the Roman Catholics of the United States, I join in mourning the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict. He was a brilliant scholar and a true Holy Man. I will always cherish our time together in the Vatican when he was the Pope discussing Catholic theology. He was a great theologian and I learned a lot in a few hours,” Biden wrote. ‘May his soul rest with the Lord forever.’

The Vatican encouraged Biden not to attend the funeral of the late Pope Emeritus on Thursday, he told reporters on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden holds up a card after signing a book of condolences for the late Pope Benedict Thursday night in Washington.

President Joe Biden (right) is greeted at the Vatican embassy, ​​technically the Holy See Apostolic Nunciature, by Archbishop Christophe Pierre (left) on Thursday evening.

President Joe Biden (right) is greeted by Archbishop Christophe Pierre (left) as he arrives to express condolences for the late Pope Benedict at the Vatican diplomatic post in DC

“The reason I won’t be attending the funeral tomorrow is because you need a 1,000-person entourage, not literally, but it would move everything in the wrong direction,” Biden explained.

Benedict, who died on Saturday at the age of 95 after resigning as pope in 2013, had said he wanted a “simple” funeral.

“The express request on the part of the emeritus pope is that everything be simple, both with regard to the funeral and the other celebrations and gestures during this time of pain,” said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. according to the Catholic News Agency.

The Vatican confirmed on Monday that only two state delegations, Germany and Italy, were invited to the Thursday affair.

Pope Benedict XVI was born in Germany and lived in Italy for more than 40 years.

Biden said Wednesday that he “inquired about it” but that other countries were sending their apostolic delegates or ambassadors to Rome.

“That’s what we’re going to do,” he acknowledged.

President Joe Biden told a reporter ‘you know why’ on Wednesday when asked why he would not attend the funeral of the late Pope Benedict on Thursday.

When President Joe Biden went to meet Pope Francis in October 2021, his motorcade contained 85 cars due to COVID-19 restrictions that required fewer people in each vehicle.

The body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lies in state in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden (right) recalled his 2011 meeting with Pope Benedict (left) in a statement expressing condolences Saturday and on the South Lawn Wednesday.

At Tuesday’s press conference, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the US ambassador to the Holy See, Joe Donnelly, would represent the United States.

“We would just get in the way, but I have made my views known,” Biden continued. Anyway, I think he was a good man.

When Biden traveled to Rome and Vatican City to meet with Pope Francis and G20 leaders in October 2021, he traveled in an 85-vehicle motorcade.

The length was partly due to COVID restrictions, which allowed fewer people to ride in each car.

Biden met Pope Benedict in Vatican City in 2011 for an unannounced visit while he was serving as vice president.

At the time, the pope decided not to make an example of Biden, the country’s first Catholic vice president, for his support for abortion rights, which is contrary to church teaching.

Biden recalled their meeting in a statement sent on Saturday.

“I had the privilege of spending time with Pope Benedict at the Vatican in 2011 and I will always remember his generosity and welcome, as well as our meaningful conversation,” he said then.

On the South Lawn, Biden recalled his visit with Benedict XVI, saying it reminded him “to go back to theology class,” saying they discussed Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica.

“I found him relaxed, very rational and had a more conservative view in the Catholic sphere than me. I am closer to the Pope, the current Pope, in terms of philosophy, his point of view, ”Biden added. But I admired him. I thought he was a good man.