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Biden to attend Pope Francis I’s Mass of Inauguration

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Vice President Joe Biden will be heading to Rome later this month to attend Pope Francis I’s Mass of Inauguration.

Biden offered he and his wife Jill’s congratulations to the new pope in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“I am happy to have the chance to personally relay my well wishes, and those of the American people, when I travel to Rome for his inaugural Mass,” Biden said.

“The Catholic Church plays an essential role in my life and the lives of more than a billion people in America and around the world, not just in matters of our faith, but in pursuit of peace and human dignity for all faiths,” he added. “I look forward to our work together in the coming years on many important issues.”

Biden is America’s first Catholic vice president.

CBS News reports that a senior government official said Biden will be leading a delegation to the new pope’s inauguration.

The White House has not yet announced an official delegation.

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