WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Saturday and awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the nation’s highest civilian honor, the White House said.
It is the first time in his four years in office that Biden has been awarded the medal “with distinction,” it said.
Biden this week canceled his trip to Rome, where he was supposed to meet the pope in person, to oversee the federal response to the deadly California wildfires.