Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo said Friday that an awkward moment between President Joe Biden and Pope Francis showed why the Vatican did not want to broadcast the meeting.
Arroyo joined Fox News host Harris Faulkner to discuss Biden’s meeting with the pope as well as the Vatican’s last minute decision not to televise the event. (RELATED: Biden Says He Did Not Discuss Abortion With The Pope, Was Told To ‘Keep Receiving Communion’)
WATCH:
Faulkner began the segment by noting that the Vatican had cited COVID protocols as the reason for dialing back the coverage of Biden’s first meeting with the pope as president.
“I want the audience and you to realize who we are seeing here. When you see the president and the pope together, you are seeing the two primary teachers of the Catholic faith today in the world,” Arroyo said, adding that going into the meeting there had been a question about whether Pope Francis would address Biden’s public opposition to the Church’s teachings on abortion.
But Arroyo said that he believed the Vatican was likely more concerned about a possible gaffe that could have derailed a live broadcast.
“I think the Vatican was concerned that a live meeting, video of a live meeting, might expose Biden to a gaffe. No telling what he might say, and you heard some of the blarney about drinking and whiskey and being an Irishman. They wanted to tamp some of that down,” he continued.
“There was more of that? I don’t know, that was awkward when Biden said ‘Oh you are meeting the only Catholic who never had a drink.’ I don’t know, do you have to go there? We all know we’re individuals. You don’t have to lump any group together. I thought he was – I’m so confused by it all,” Faulkner replied.
“This is why they didn’t want the live coverage, Harris. They didn’t know what he would say,” Arroyo continued, and Faulkner agreed: “We never know.”
“We heard bits of it, they allowed bits of it to leak out. That was embarrassing enough,” Arroyo added. “The U.S. bishops were also concerned that something might be said here to put them in a difficult position, and you heard the minute Biden was out of the meeting he is saying, ‘Oh. the Pope says I’m a good Catholic and should receive communion.’ I’m sorry. All the blarney and pictures don’t wash away this reality: What does it mean to be a Catholic in good standing, a public Catholic, and what are the requirements to receive communion?”
Arroyo, who previously interviewed both Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II, said that the former had brought up the topic of abortion with Obama immediately upon meeting him. “He handed him a pamphlet on bioethics,” Arroyo added. “They were amazing men, giants.”