The meeting, also attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, focused on ending the war in Ukraine and ceasefire negotiations.

Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the U.S. delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope.

Leo will receive two crucial signs of his pontificate, the “pallium” and the fisherman’s ring, marking his role as successor of Peter.

Biden's health, both physical and mental, was discussed at length during the 2024 presidential election cycle, more recently after excerpts from a new book by CNN 's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, were published by multiple media outlets.

Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

The cancer is a more aggressive form of the disease, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 out of 10.