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,

The Italy trip was meant as a final opportunity to showcase the strength of American alliances before the Democrat leaves office Jan. 20.

In what would have been his last overseas trip as president, Joe Biden had been set to depart for Italy Thursday night to meet with Pope Francis.