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Joe Biden Wears Rosary Beads In Honor Of His Late Son

"It is my connection with him," the former vice president told Megyn Kelly Monday.
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By 

Reporter, HuffPost

Former Vice President Joe Biden has worn rosary beads every day since his son Beau died in 2015.

Biden appeared on “Megyn Kelly Today” on Monday to discuss his new book, Promise Me, Dad, which recounts Beau’s brain cancer diagnosis and eventual death.

Sitting beside wife Dr. Jill Biden, the former vice president opened up about the necklace he wears around his wrist, which he said connects him to his late son.

“I have not taken off the rosary Beau was wearing when he passed, since then. It is my connection with him,” Biden said.

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Joe Biden with his son, Beau Biden, at the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
PAUL J. RICHARDS via Getty Images

Joseph “Beau” Biden III died at the age of 46 after a two-year battle with brain cancer. The younger Biden had served as Delaware’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015 and had planed to run for governor of Delaware in 2016.

Biden recounted that his son Hunter had purchased the rosary beads at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. “We all wore them,” Biden said.

“I am a practicing Catholic. Beau was a devout Catholic as well,” Biden told host Megyn Kelly. “Both of us found solace in the elements of the church. It is almost like meditation for us.”

Biden has spoken about his Catholicism in the past, often emphasizing his belief that all religions share a common faith.

“It’s not about religion, per se,” he said of his decision to wear his son’s rosary beads. “It’s about the connection. It makes me feel good. I know he’s with me, just touching it.”

Biden’s interview on “Megyn Kelly Today” comes at a time when many are speculating whether the former vice president will run for president in 2020.

Kelly pushed him on the issue. Listing potential arguments from critics, the reporter said: “You are going to be 77 in 2020. You wouldn’t have any new ideas. You have already run twice and lost. You would have to promise it would be one term only. And ... the blue collar Rust Belt-ers, who you would need to get elected, already love [President] Donald Trump.”

“They love me more,” Biden responded.

“I understand the Rust Belt,” he added. “Donald Trump has no notion of what those people are going through.”

Biden has said he currently has no plans to run in 2020, but is not ruling out the option.

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Before You Go

A Million Miles With VP Joe Biden
(01 of13)
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Biden gives a thumbs-up after landing at Southwest Florida International Airport on Sept. 28, 2012. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
(02 of13)
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Biden and Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold try out archery in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, on Aug. 22, 2011. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
(03 of13)
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Biden and granddaughter Finnegan Biden tour the Dachau concentration camp with Max Mannheimer, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor, in Dachau, Germany, on Feb. 8, 2015. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
(04 of13)
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Biden chats with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Feb. 1, 2013. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
(05 of13)
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Biden tours the Decani Monastery with Serbian Orthodox Monk Father Sava, left, on May 21, 2009, in Decani, Kosovo. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
(06 of13)
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Biden marches arm in arm with Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) and civil rights legend and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 48th annual Bridge Crossing Ceremony in Selma, Alabama on March 3, 2013. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
(07 of13)
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Biden smiles and waves as his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, introduces him at an event in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Oct. 27, 2012. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
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Biden takes a selfie with students, following an “It’s On Us” event at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois, on April 23, 2015. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
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Biden, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, left, and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell walk down the stairs underneath the Gateway Arch, at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 13, 2014. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
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Biden is handed a baby as he works a rope line after speaking at an event in Ocala, Florida, on Oct. 31, 2012. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
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Biden throws a football from the top of the stairs before boarding Air Force Two at Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, on July 1, 2009. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
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This photo taken on July 2, 2009, shows Biden's airstream trailer loaded onto a military C-17 cargo plane. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
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Biden jogs up the stairs to Air Force Two at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, in St. Louis, Missouri, on Aug. 20, 2010. (credit:David Lienemann/The White House)
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