As President Joe Biden wrapped up a week filled with peculiar public moments, his latest gaffe involving Pope Francis at the Vatican has people talking. The incident occurred when more than 100 celebrities were in Rome to hear the Pope’s call for influencers to help bring “serenity and smiles” to a troubled world, according to the BBC.
Shortly afterward, Pope Francis headed to the G7 Summit in Italy, where his interaction with Biden took an awkward turn. Biden, a Catholic, approached the wheelchair-bound Pope and leaned in, seemingly attempting to touch his forehead to the Pope’s in a gesture that left the Holy Father visibly uncomfortable before he was quickly wheeled away.
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This series of missteps by Biden, packed into just a few days, marks an unusual flurry of gaffes for the President, known for his blunders. At the G7, another incident saw him disoriented among a crowd, prompting claims of “right-wing misinformation” by a spokeswoman after a bystander corrected his course.
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The week also saw Biden nearly collapsing during an event with the Royal Family and the President of France, with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden hastily intervening.
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These incidents have not helped his image, especially as Americans’ views on Pope Francis have grown increasingly critical over issues such as his appointment of an abortion advocate to a pro-life position and calls for Christian repentance for idolizing a pagan deity.
Amid these controversies, Pope Francis’s stances remain complex, as highlighted by a recent Vatican critique of gender ideology. Meanwhile, Biden’s popularity among Catholic voters is waning.
A recent Fox News poll shows a significant shift from four years ago, with former President Donald Trump now leading Biden among Catholics, particularly Hispanic Catholics, whose support for Biden has dramatically fallen from a 67%-27% margin to a nearly even 49%-47%.
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