Biden awards Pope Francis with highest civilian honor, Presidential Medal of Freedom, over the phone

President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction, the nation's highest civilian honor, to Pope Francis on Saturday.

Instead, Biden bestowed the award on the pope during a phone call in which they also discussed efforts to promote peace and alleviate suffering around the world.

Both Biden and Francis have been weakened by global events, said Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic and professor at Villanova University who follows the papacy.

"That is really hard to underestimate how tragic this moment is for both men in different ways," he said. "Because what could go wrong did go wrong in these few years."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.