President Joe Biden has canceled a planned trip to Rome to meet with Pope Francis so that he can instead focus on federal response to the rapidly moving wildfires that are tearing through the Los Angeles area, the White House said Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday that Biden made the decision after returning to Washington from a trip to Los Angeles to meet with law enforcement, fire and emergency personnel who are battling the fires.
“President Biden made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy to remain focused on directing the full federal response in the days ahead,” Jean-Pierre said.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday night.
Biden’s trip to Italy was scheduled to take place from Jan. 9 to 12, and he was also expected to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He had accepted an invitation from the Pope to visit the Vatican last month, the White House previously said in a statement.
At least five people have been killed in the wildfires, triggering mandatory evacuations for more than 100,000 people.
Biden said during a briefing at a Santa Monica firehouse on Wednesday afternoon that his administration was ready to do “anything and everything as long as it takes to contain these fires and help reconstruct, make sure that we get back to normal.”
“It’s going to be a hell of a long way. It’s going to take time. Federal government is here to stay, as long as it needs,” Biden added.
The White House said earlier in the day that Biden had approved a major disaster declaration for the fires, an action that enables people impacted by the fires in Los Angeles County to access funding for temporary housing, home repairs and loans for property that was not insured. Federal funding is also extended to state, tribal, local government and some private nonprofit organizations.
Biden, who is Roman Catholic, has met with the Pope on several occasions, including privately in June when he was in Italy for the G7 summit. His Italy trip was anticipated to be his culminating international trip before he leaves the White House later this month.
