WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will travel to Italy next month to meet with Pope Francis and top Italian officials for what is expected to be the final international trip of his presidency.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that Biden will also meet with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella during the Jan. 9-12 trip.
Biden accepted Francis' invitation to visit the Vatican during a phone call Thursday, according to the White House.
“The President thanked the Pope for his continued advocacy to alleviate global suffering, including his work to advance human rights and protect religious freedoms,” the White House said in a statement.
Jean-Pierre said Biden and Francis will “discuss efforts to advance peace around the world." She said Biden intends to use his final meeting with Meloni to “discuss important challenges facing the world” and to thank her for Italy's leadership as the country's winds up its yearlong, rotating presidency at the Group of Seven.
Overseas visits this late in a U.S. presidency aren't typical. The last president to travel overseas in the final month of his presidency was fellow one-termer George H.W. Bush, who traveled in early January 1993 to Moscow to sign a nuclear treaty and to Paris for talks with French President François Mitterrand about the Bosnian war, according to State Department historical records.
Biden, a practicing Roman Catholic, last met privately with Francis earlier this year while in Italy for the G7 leaders meeting.
He also met with Francis at the Vatican in 2021, when they had a wide-ranging conversation about climate change, poverty and the coronavirus pandemic. Their warm conversation also touched on the loss of the president’s adult son Beau, who died of cancer in 2015, and included jokes about aging well.
Biden's support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage has put him at odds with many U.S. bishops, some of whom have suggested he should be denied Communion.
But following the Vatican meeting in 2021, Biden said Francis called him a “good Catholic” who should keep receiving Communion.
Biden is set to arrive soon after the Vatican begins the Holy Year, which officially opens on Christmas Eve.
Holy Years are generally celebrated every 25 to 50 years, and over the centuries have been used to encourage the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome to pray at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and obtain an indulgence — the ancient church tradition related to the forgiveness of sins that roughly amounts to a “get out of Purgatory free” card.
Pilgrims who pass through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica can obtain the indulgence, and the Vatican is expecting some 32 million people will flock to Rome over 2025 to participate in the pilgrimage.
Winfield reported from Rome. AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Pope Francis meets with Italian pilgrims participating in the Camino de Santiago, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
President Joe Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Packaged foods in the U.S. will have to follow new rules in order to call themselves “healthy,” according to changes finalized Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration.
It’s an update of the agency’s definition originally devised 30 years ago. The move is aimed at helping Americans navigate food labels at the grocery store and make choices that are aligned with federal dietary guidelines — in hopes of reducing rates of diet-related chronic disease, the FDA said.
Under the rule, products that claim to be “healthy” must contain a certain amount of food from one or more food groups such as fruit, vegetables, grains, dairy and protein. And for the first time, the rule sets certain limits for added sugars. Foods must also limit sodium and saturated fat at levels that depend on the type of product, the FDA said.
The change banishes foods such as sugary cereals, highly sweetened yogurts, white bread and some granola bars from bearing a “healthy” label, while allowing foods such as avocados, olive oil, salmon, eggs and some trail mix to use it. Even water can now be labeled as healthy, the agency said.
“It's critical for the future of the country that food be a vehicle for wellness,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement. “Improving access to nutrition information is an important public health effort the FDA can undertake to help people build healthy eating patterns.”
The new rule will take effect within two months and food manufacturers will have until February 2028 to comply. A label that designates certain foods as healthy is still being developed, FDA officials said. Under the previous rule, about 15% of products were eligible for the healthy designation, but only 5% made the claim.
First proposed in 2022, the change is a much-needed update to “horribly outdated” guidance, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University.
“Big picture, this is a huge improvement from a 30-year-old outdated definition based on 40-year-old science,” he said.
The new rule acknowledges that dietary and nutrition knowledge has progressed over three decades and that the previous definition didn’t jibe with dietary guidelines that are the cornerstone of federal programs and policies.
Consumer Brands Association, a food industry trade group, said that the new rule “stands to exclude some packaged foods, despite countless years of industry innovation to provider healthier options.”
Sarah Gallo, an official for the group, said it is concerned the new rule “is not based on clear and unambiguous scientific evidence” and doesn't fully consider the full potential economic impact on consumers.
The updated criteria are based on data that could improve public health, including diet-related chronic ailments such as heart disease and diabetes, the FDA said.
More than three-quarters of Americans have diets low in vegetables, fruit and dairy, according to the FDA. Nearly 80% exceed limits on saturated fat, more than 60% exceed limits on added sugars and about 90% exceed limits on sodium that can reduce chronic disease.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - Canadian certified organic farm-raised King Salmon filets are placed on a tray in a store in Fairfax, Va., April 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
