A president who came "to listen". These are the only words spoken by Joe Biden on the sidelines of the brief face-to-face with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, inaugurating in a Belfast hotel the first day of his visit to the island, scheduled until April 14. A visit that today includes a speech by the head of the White House for the 25th anniversary of the historic Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland on Good Friday 1998. Then Biden will move from British Ulster to the neighboring Republic of Ireland.

The treaty was cited by Pope Francis during the Regina Coeli on Easter Monday, about the current situation in Ukraine and how that road can be a useful path to follow in view of a future, hoped-for resolution of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

"I'm here to listen": Biden replied, therefore, to journalists who asked him about the significance of the scheduled meeting with the leaders of the various Northern Irish parties, unionists and republicans, grappling with a prolonged local political stalemate. While he ignored questions about Ukraine, the alleged leak of secret Pentagon documents or the prospects for a post-Brexit free trade agreement between the US and the United Kingdom. Instead, he limited himself to exalting "the view", visible from the window in front of him.