Despite being requested not to attend the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI, controversial US President Joe Biden nonetheless made time to sign the Book of Condolences for the pontiff at the Vatican Embassy in Washington DC.
The story broke during the week that Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican had requested that Biden not attend the funeral.
Biden was then asked about why this was, he responded:
‘Why do you think? ‘
The reporter then asked why again and Biden said:
‘‘You know why. You can tell me. The reason I'm not attending the funeral tomorrow is it would take an entourage of a thousand people to show up. We would move everything in the wrong direction. We would just get in the way. I found him to be relaxing and very rational. He had a more conservative view within the Catholic realm than I have. But I admired him, I thought he was a fine man".
Attending the Vatican Embassy on the day of the funeral, he wrote:
“Together with Catholics across the United States, I join in mourning the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict. He was a brilliant scholar and truly Holy Man. I will always cherish our time together at the Vatican when he was Pope discussing Catholic theology. He was a great theologian and I learned much in a few hours. May his soul rest eternally with the Lord.”
