Fact check: Biden wasn't banned from 'simple' papal funeral. He honored late pope's wishes

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: President Biden was banned from Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral

A Jan. 5 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims President Joe Biden was explicitly barred from attending the funeral for Pope Benedict XVI.

“One of Pope Benedict's last wishes – that pro-abortion Joe Biden not attend his funeral,” reads the caption of a video of Biden talking in front of the Marine One helicopter. In the clip, a reporter asks Biden why he is not attending the funeral.

The post was shared more than 30 times in eight days. Other versions of this claim circulated widely on Instagram and Facebook.

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Our rating: False

Biden was not invited to the funeral, but few world leaders were. Some still attended, but Biden said he chose not to because the logistics of a presidential visit would take away from the simple funeral the former pontiff wanted. Biden explains this to the reporter, but the video clip is edited and does not include his full response.

Former pope wanted simple funeral

After Pope Benedict XVI died on Dec. 31, 2022, the Vatican issued an outline of what the services for the pontiff would be like. It noted the only official delegations would be from Germany, where the pope emeritus was born, and Italy.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told reporters the funeral “would be held under the sign of simplicity” in keeping with Benedict’s wishes, adding it would be a “solemn but sober funeral.”

An estimated 50,000 people attended Benedict’s funeral, about one-fifth the crowd of Pope John Paul II’s service in 2005, according to the Washington Post.

In the Facebook post claiming Biden was barred, a reporter asks the president if he will attend the funeral. There is a brief back and forth in which Biden says no and starts to say “You know why” when asked why not.

While the audio fades out and the video ends, official transcripts show Biden explained that staying away would honor Benedict’s wishes of keeping the service simple.

“The reason I’m not attending the funeral tomorrow is because it takes an entourage of a thousand people to show up – not literally,” Biden said before boarding Marine One on Jan. 4. “But we would – we would move everything in the wrong direction. I inquired about that. And they’re – people are sending mostly their apostolic delegates, their – the folks in Rome. That’s what we’re going to do. We would just get in the way."

Ambassador Joe Donnelly represented the U.S. at the funeral.

Benedict stepped down in 2013, becoming the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign. As a result, the rules and customs for a reigning pontiff did not apply, according to the Rev. David Collins, associate professor of history and director of Catholic studies at Georgetown University.

USA TODAY recently debunked several claims related to Benedict, including one that traditions included tapping him on the head with a hammer to confirm death

Neither the Vatican nor the White House responded to requests for comment. USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the claim for comment.

PolitiFact and Reuters also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: President Biden was not banned from Pope Benedict funeral