WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to newly elected Pope Francis’ installation in Rome.
That’s according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trip hasn’t been publicly announced.
An official date hasn’t been announced, but the Vatican says it’s a “good hypothesis” that the new pope will be installed next Tuesday.
Biden is an observant Catholic and the first member of that faith to be elected vice president.
Cardinals in Rome elected 76-year-old Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina earlier Wednesday. Bergoglio, who chose the papal name Francis, becomes first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
