President Joe Biden has canceled a planned trip to Rome to meet with Pope Francis so that he can instead focus on federal response to the rapidly moving wildfires that are tearing through the Los Angeles area,

U.S. President Joe Biden canceled an upcoming trip to Italy due to the wildfires in California, the White House said on Wednesday, adding that he wanted to focus on directing the full federal response to the fires.

President Joe Biden has decided not to embark on a final overseas trip in office, canceling plans to travel to Rome for a personal meeting with Pope Francis this weekend as wildfires continue to rage across Los Angeles.

President Joe Biden will no longer travel to Rome, Italy, this week as scheduled, the White House announced late Wednesday, canceling the trip in the final days of his presidency to monitor raging wildfires across the Los Angeles,

President Joe Biden on Wednesday cancelled the final overseas trip of his presidency just hours before he was set to depart for Rome and the Vatican, choosing to remain in Washington to monitor the response to devastating fires raging in California.