Biden and Pope Francis meet to discuss pandemic, poverty and climate change

Biden has previously met the pontiff three times but this is their first meeting since he was elected president

US President Joe Biden is meeting Pope Francis on Friday at the Vatican, where the two will discuss global challenges ranging from the Covid-19 pandemic to climate change and poverty.

Biden has previously met the pontiff three times but this is their first meeting since he was elected president.

The first stop of his Europe trip for the devout Catholic US president is an audience with the pope, before pressing the case for democratic values and US leadership on climate change at the G20 and COP26 meetings.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she expects the talks to be "warm and constructive."

Biden, only the second ever Catholic head of state in US history after John F. Kennedy, is a devout Catholic and almost never misses Sunday mass.

The US leader takes pride in his faith and has spoken of the strength he drew from it when faced with personal tragedies like the death of his first wife and daughter in a car accident and later his son Beau due to cancer.

Despite the two leaders sharing a range of concerns and a great deal of agreement, there are also sources of disagreement, for instance on the issue of abortion.