Biden says the Pope told him he could still take communion despite his support for abortion rights

• Biden says Pope Francis told him he should take communion at Catholic mass.
• Some US bishops have said Biden should be denied communion because his support of abortion rights.

President Joe Biden says Pope Francis told him he could continue to take communion at Catholic Mass, despite some US bishops saying he should be denied the sacrament because of his support for abortion rights.

"We just talked about the fact that he was happy that I was a good Catholic and … keep receiving communion," he told reporters, according to pool reports, about his private 75-minute audience with the pope on Friday.

Some US Catholic bishops over the summer expressed interest in denying Biden communion because of his stance on abortion, which contradicts the Vatican's position.

"Dear Pope Francis, You have boldly stated that abortion is 'murder.' Please challenge President Biden on this critical issue," Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "His persistent support of abortion is an embarrassment for the Church and a scandal to the world."

Pope Francis said in September that he has "never refused the Eucharist to anyone," and said pastors should not "go condemning," The New York Times reported at the time.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop for Washington, DC, meanwhile, said in June that he would not deny Biden communion.

The is the fourth time Biden, who is the first Catholic president of the United States since John F. Kennedy, has met with the pope since 2013.

He made a stop at the Vatican and Italy on Friday before traveling to Glasgow, Scotland, for the COP26 climate conference.