The White House announced on Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden accepted an invitation to visit Pope Francis next month to discuss efforts to advance peace.
Biden, the country’s second Catholic president, is set to travel to Rome from January 9–12 at Pope Francis’ invitation. His audience with Pope Francis is set for January 10 and will focus on efforts to advance peace around the world.
The trip announcement came following a Thursday telephone conversation between Pope Francis and Biden, during which the two leaders discussed “efforts to advance peace around the world during the holiday season,” according to a December 19 statement from the White House.
“The president thanked the pope for his continued advocacy to alleviate global suffering, including his work to advance human rights and protect religious freedoms,” the statement read. “President Biden also graciously accepted His Holiness Pope Francis’ invitation to visit the Vatican next month.”
Overseas visits this late in a U.S. presidency are rare. The most recent overseas visit in the last month of a president’s term was more than 30 years ago, when outgoing president George H.W. Bush visited Moscow to sign a nuclear treaty and Paris for talks with the French president about the Bosnian war.