Biden, pope unite on cancer fight

Pope Francis greets Vice President Joe Biden during Friday’s Vatican conference on medical research.
Pope Francis greets Vice President Joe Biden during Friday’s Vatican conference on medical research.

VATICAN CITY -- Vice President Joe Biden found common cause with Pope Francis on Friday at the Vatican for a global commitment to fund cancer research.

Biden spoke at the Vatican's Third International Regenerative Medicine Conference and ended up sharing the stage with the pope, who used his own speech to decry a profit-driven medical research system. The pope called for empathy for the sick and communal guarantees that all have access to care.

"Research, whether in academia and industry, requires unwavering attention to moral issues if it is to be an instrument which safeguards human life and the dignity of the person," the pope said. "These patients are not often given sufficient attention because investing in them is not expected to generate sufficient economic return."

Biden said researchers need to share more of their work and "immediately" take down pay walls that prevent rapid collaboration.

"Why do you wait?" he asked, his voice rising. "What is your rationale?"

And he expressed hope that the advent of supercomputers capable of processing data at rates that until recently were inconceivable has put researchers on the cusp of new discoveries.

Biden also said the ambitious effort had already drawn interest from leaders around the world, such as the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Japan, who wanted to help.

"They sense exactly what we sense -- the enormous possibilities," he said.

The pope gave voice to the moral argument behind a cause that Biden and President Barack Obama have sought to elevate, helping to skewer traditional partisan divides that tend to overtake political issues in the U.S. The Obama administration has turned to this pope for support on climate change, poverty, rapprochement with Cuba and migrants.

Biden's visit to Vatican City was an about-face from the scene just hours earlier when he visited Iraq on an unannounced visit. In Iraq, Biden worked to smooth over deep sectarian tensions threatening Iraq's political system; at the Holy See, he appealed for all religions to see defeating cancer as a means to express values of faith, love and hope.

Biden told the scientists, researchers and Catholic leaders that as he met with Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders in Iraq the day before, each had wanted to talk to him about one thing: the pope.

"I think that's a pretty incredible thing," Biden said.

Biden, who lost a son to cancer last year, called cancer a "constant emergency" for the planet and urged philanthropists, corporations and governments to increase funding and information sharing in a bid to "end cancer as we know it." Though he said the world is on the cusp of unprecedented breakthroughs, he added that still not enough is being done.

"Cancer's not a national problem, it's an international problem," Biden said. "It's a human problem. It affects all races, all religions."

Before taking the stage, the pope greeted Biden privately in a room backstage, where the two exchanged small tokens, the White House said. They were also seen chatting together as they greeted conference attendees after their speeches, joined by the vice president's son, Hunter Biden, and son-in-law Howard Krein, a physician who's been involved in Biden's cancer push.

"In a sense I might be the least qualified person to speak here today," Biden said at the conference. "But I've been on the other end of the need."

Last year, Biden's eldest son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died from brain cancer after his family's hopes of a last-minute medical breakthrough fell short. Months later, his father declared a "moonshot" to cure cancer when he announced he wouldn't run for president.

Since then, Joe Biden has begun a task force with Obama's blessing and the White House asked Congress for $1 billion over two budget years for research. Only a fraction has been approved so far.

While at the Vatican, Biden met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, at the gold-adorned Treaty Room of the Apostolic Palace. Then he left Vatican City for Palazzo Chigi, the Italian premier's office in Rome, where a military band and honor guard greeted Biden and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi by playing the U.S. and Italian national anthems.

The two held a private meeting before Biden returned to Washington.

Information for this article was contributed by Josh Lederman and Frances D'Emilio of The Associated Press and by Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post.

A Section on 04/30/2016

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