President Biden meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican as domestic agenda hangs in the balance
CBSN
Rome — Pope Francis met with President Joe Biden at the Vatican Friday, the first meeting between the heads of state since Mr. Biden entered the Oval Office. At the meeting, the two were expected to focus on the issue of climate change, two days before the president travels to Glasgow to attend the COP26 United Nations summit on the topic.
"The engagement between the two was very warm when the delegation arrived in the room. There was laughter and clear rapport between President Biden and Pope Francis," a White House official said.
But there were questions about how the issue of abortion would be handled. As the first Catholic president since John F. Kennedy, Mr. Biden has been under pressure from conservative bishops in the U.S. over his support for abortion rights, which they argue disqualifies him from receiving communion.
President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.