Pope Francis and the president of the United States, Joe Biden, spoke on the phone for around 20 minutes on the afternoon of Sunday, October 22, 2023, the Vatican press office announced on the same day. Their conversation "focused on situations of conflict in the world and the need to identify paths to peace," the statement said.
After praying the midday Angelus prayer earlier the same day, Pope Francis had renewed his appeal for peace in the Holy Land, while highlighting also the continuing conflict in Ukraine. “War is always a defeat; it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop! Stop!,” he said.
The United States is currently providing financial and military support to the Israeli and Ukrainian armies. On Friday, October 20, President Biden presented the US Congress with a new funding plan for aid to its allies, allotting $61.4 billion for Ukraine and $14.3 billion for Israel.
President Biden visited Israel on October 18. He supported the dispatch of the first humanitarian convoys to the Gaza Strip, and announced that the United States intended to send 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people, enabling a “continued flow” of aid into the Gaza Strip.
Joe Biden visited Pope Francis on October 29, 2021, in the Vatican. Their meeting lasted an hour and fifteen minutes.
