“We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving Communion,” Mr. Biden said. The Vatican didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Mr. Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, has come under fire from some U.S. bishops who say that Catholic politicians who support legal access to abortion should be barred from Communion. In a little more than two weeks, at their annual fall meeting in Baltimore, U.S. bishops are expected to debate whether to make a collective statement to that effect.
Pope Francis, while reaffirming the church’s condemnation of abortion, has taken a more conciliatory approach toward the president and the Vatican has said that linking the politics of abortion to the reception of Communion would be divisive.
Mr. Biden declined to say on Friday whether he and the pope had discussed the U.S. bishops’ debate, saying “that’s a private conversation.”
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declined to comment on the president’s remarks.
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Neither the Vatican nor the White House mentioned abortion in their summary statements after the leaders’ meeting, a sign that neither party wanted the press the issue.
Mr. Biden thanked the pope for his work against poverty and climate change, “as well as his advocacy to ensure the pandemic ends for everyone through vaccine sharing and an equitable global economic recovery,” according to the White House.
The Vatican said they discussed the environment, the fight against Covid-19 and the plight of refugees and migrants—all areas of broad agreement between the pope and president. The only possible hint of discord was a reference to “the protection of human rights, including freedom of religion and conscience.”
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U.S. Catholic bishops have criticized the Equality Act, proposed legislation supported by Mr. Biden that would expand antidiscrimination protections to cover sexual orientation and gender identity, which bishops say would infringe on the church’s religious freedom.
After the meeting, Mr. Biden told reporters that his time with the pope had been wonderful.
The pope and Mr. Biden spoke in private for an unusually long 75 minutes. The pope typically meets with visiting heads of state for around half an hour, as he did with PresidentDonald Trump in 2017, though he spent more than 50 minutes with President Barack Obama in 2014.
It was the fourth meeting between the two men, who previously met when Mr. Biden was vice president: at the Vatican in 2013 and 2016 and during Pope Francis’ 2015 visit to the U.S.
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Mr. Biden has made his faith a prominent element of his public persona and placed a photo of the pope behind his desk in the Oval Office.
Mr. Biden supports abortion rights, whereas Pope Francis in recent weeks has underscored the church’s strong opposition to abortion, describing it as murder and likening it to hiring a hit man to solve a problem. However, the pope has also warned bishops not to politicize the reception of Communion.
On Inauguration Day in January, Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Mr. Biden “has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage and gender.”
Pope Francis, in a message to Mr. Biden the same day, didn’t mention any of those issues.
During a meeting in June, some U.S. bishops said it was urgent to clarify the church’s teaching on abortion under a Catholic president who supports abortion rights. The bishops then voted 168 to 55, with six abstentions, for a document on the Eucharist that would address the question of eligibility to receive Communion. The latest draft of that document, which the bishops will vote on next month, doesn’t include a statement that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should be barred from Communion, but bishops can propose amendments to the document up to and during next month’s meeting.
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The president regularly attends Mass and receives Communion. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who as archbishop of Washington is the president’s pastor, has said that he wouldn’t refuse him the sacrament. Mr. Biden told reporters that he did not receive Communion during his visit to the Vatican on Friday.
Following this weekend’s summit of leaders of the Group of 20 major global economies in Rome, Mr. Biden will attend the United Nations climate summit, known as COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday and Tuesday.
Pope Francis has made climate change a signature issue of his pontificate. In a radio message broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday, the pope called on participants at COP26 “to provide effective responses to the present ecological crisis and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations.”
Video images released by the Vatican after their private meeting showed the pope and president smiling and exchanging pleasantries. A White House official said “the engagement between the two was very warm…There was laughter and clear rapport.”
After the private meeting, the president was joined by first lady Jill Biden for an exchange of gifts with the pontiff. Pope Francis gave the president a painting on a ceramic tile depicting a pilgrim, along with several Vatican publications including a papal message on peace. Mr. Biden gave the pope a vintage liturgical vestment as well as a commemorative coin that he said he normally gives to warriors and leaders.
“You are the most significant warrior for peace I’ve ever met,” Mr. Biden told the pope.
Write to Francis X. Rocca at francis.rocca@wsj.com and Catherine Lucey at catherine.lucey@wsj.com
