US Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Rome to attend the inauguration mass of Pope Francis.
The Italian news agency ANSA says Biden, a practising Catholic, touched down at Rome's Ciampino military airport on Sunday night.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, former archbishop of Buenos Aires, was elected last Wednesday, becoming the first Latin American leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.
Biden is among world leaders who have begun arriving ahead of the mass on Tuesday in St Peter's Square.
