Vatican City, 28 October, 2021 / 8:00 pm (ACI Africa).
One day before U.S. President Joe Biden is due to meet with Pope Francis, the Vatican canceled its scheduled live broadcast of the meeting without explanation.
Journalists in the Vatican press corps — who will also not be allowed to have a pool representative present for the initial handshake due to current Vatican COVID-19 protocols — have protested at the last-minute cancelation.
The Associated Press reported on Oct. 28 that it had formally complained to the Vatican about the canceled live stream, along with members of the Vatican correspondents’ association.
Steven Portnoy, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said that the group declared its solidarity with Vatican reporters in “expressing our disappointment that the world won’t see live pictures of President Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis.”
“Reporters have been covering the papal audiences of American presidents since Woodrow Wilson sat w/Benedict [XV] in January 1919,” Portnoy, a CBS News Radio correspondent, wrote on Twitter.