Former President Joe Biden (D) plans to attend Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome.
The news comes after President Donald Trump announced he will be in attendance.
Former First Lady Jill Biden will accompany her husband to the funeral on Saturday to honor the late pope, who died at 88 years old, the Hill reported on Friday.
In a social media post on Monday, the day the Vatican announced the Catholic spiritual leader had died, Biden said, “Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and I am better for having known him.”
The former president also said Pope Francis was “a Pope for everyone”:
It is with great sadness that Jill and I learned of the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis. He was unlike any who came before him. Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and I am better for having known him. For decades, he served… pic.twitter.com/GsE03QNoHj
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 21, 2025
Trump also reacted to the news of the pope’s passing in a statement posted online. He said, “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!” according to Breitbart News.
The president later signed an executive order to fly flags across the nation at half-staff in remembrance of Pope Francis. Breitbart News noted that Trump will be accompanied by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, at the funeral this weekend.
The outlet detailed the pope’s recent health challenges:
In early April, Pope Francis was reported to have made “a surprise entrance to St. Peter’s Square during a special Jubilee Mass for the sick and health workers.” The appearance was the first “public appearance at the Vatican since he was discharged” from the hospital two weeks prior.
In late March, Pope Francis returned to the Vatican after having spent five weeks in the hospital due to a “life-threatening bout of pneumonia.”
It is important to note that Biden, who is a self-proclaimed Catholic, has been criticized for taking political stances that are antithetical to his faith.
For example, before leaving office in January, Biden awarded longtime feminist and pro-abortion activist Eleanor Smeal the Presidential Citizens Medal, Breitbart News reported:
The award comes after Biden — the nation’s second Catholic president — awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, who reportedly oversaw nearly 4 million abortions while leading the organization for 12 years, between 2006 and 2018.
In 2024, Washington, DC, Cardinal Wilton Gregory called Biden a “cafeteria Catholic” because he appears to only believe in certain doctrines, per Breitbart News.
“Biden, only the second Catholic president, following John F. Kennedy, has actively campaigned for expanded abortion rights, gay marriage, and ‘gender-affirming care,’ all of which his Church opposes,” the report said.
