President Biden's absence from Pope Benedict's Jan. 5 funeral has raised rumors and criticism from right-wing media like Newsmax, which claimed Benedict asked Biden not to come. But while the president's decision was ultimately in keeping with the late pope's wishes, his reason for not attending the funeral was not because he was specifically uninvited.
When asked Wednesday about his absence, Biden told Owen Jensen, a reporter from the Catholic television network ETWN, "You know why," before explaining that his presence "takes an entourage of a thousand people to show up" and that it "would move everything in the wrong direction." The Independent described the exchange as somewhat "tense," before noting Jensen has had a history of combative back-and-forths with White House press secretaries regarding issues like abortion.
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