From Associated Press:
Vatican cancels live TV broadcast of Biden greeting pope
The Vatican on Thursday abruptly canceled the planned live broadcast of U.S. President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis, the latest restriction to media coverage of the Holy See that sparked complaints from White House- and Vatican-accredited journalists.
The live broadcast of Biden’s Friday visit was trimmed to cover just the arrival of the president’s motorcade in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the revised plan reflected the “normal procedure” established during the coronavirus pandemic for all visiting heads of state or government.
Cancelled was the live coverage of Biden actually greeting Francis in the palace Throne Room, as well as the live footage of the two men sitting down to begin their private talks in Francis’ library, at which time the cameras would have stopped running.
The Vatican said it would provide edited footage of the encounter after the fact to accredited media, as it provides for other visiting heads of state. Bruni didn’t say why the Vatican had originally announced fuller live coverage only to dial it back on the eve of the visit.
Paragraph three - the video was just their meeting and their sitting down to talk. There were never any plans to televise the talk together. Why the cut?
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