Biden visits Vatican embassy to pay respects to Benedict XVI

By ZEKE MILLER
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has paid his respects to the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Vatican embassy in Washington. Biden signed a condolence book in honor of Benedict, the first pope to resign in 600 years. Benedict died Dec. 31 at age 95. Francis, the current pope, presided over Benedict’s funeral on Thursday at the Vatican. It was a rare instance of a living pope presiding over a requiem Mass for a deceased pope. Benedict was buried in a grotto beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. Biden, who is Catholic, told reporters this week that Benedict was a “fine man.”