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Vatican calling: Pope congratulates Joe Biden on election results

Published:Friday | November 13, 2020 | 12:22 AM
In this Thursday, September 24, 2015, file photo, Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, making history as the first pontiff to do so. Listening behind the pope are Vice-President Joe Biden and House Speaker John
AP
In this Thursday, September 24, 2015, file photo, Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, making history as the first pontiff to do so. Listening behind the pope are Vice-President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

It’s not exactly divine intervention, but even the pope considers the US presidential race over.

President-elect Joe Biden, a lifelong Roman Catholic, spoke to Pope Francis on Thursday despite President Donald Trump refusing to concede. Trump claims – without evidence – that the election was stolen from him through massive, but unspecified, acts of fraud.

Biden’s transition team said in a statement that the president-elect thanked Francis for “extending blessings and congratulations and noted his appreciation”. He also saluted the pontiff’s “leadership in promoting peace, reconciliation, and the common bonds of humanity around the world”.

Biden said he hopes to work with Francis on issues such as climate change, poverty, and immigration.

News of the call came even as some Catholic bishops in the US decline to acknowledge Biden’s victory and argue that the faithful should not back him because of his support for abortion rights.

On Tuesday, for example, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, tweeted that Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris support “the slaughter of innocents” at any point during pregnancy.

Biden has said that he accepts church doctrine about abortion on a personal level but does not want to impose that belief on everyone.