Pope Francis was greeted by president Barack Obama and his family at an airforce base near Washington at the start of his historic first visit to the United States.
The pontiff, on the second leg of his landmark tour of Cuba and the US, flew from Santiago in Cuba to Joint Base Andrews, the Maryland airfield used by the US president, taking a route that has not been flown on an official route for years.
Francis played a critical role in encouraging and helping to broker the re-establishment of ties between Cuba and the US, Cold War foes for more than 50 years.
His symbolic flight between the two countries marks a celebratory journey for the pontiff who personally pushed Mr Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro to put aside decades of rancour.
Mr Obama led the greeting party for the pope, an unusual occurrence given that the US president rarely meets visiting dignitaries off their plane.
He was joined by vice president Joe Biden, a practising Catholic, and his wife, Jill Biden, the Obamas’ daughters, Malia and Sasha, and their grandmother, Marian Robinson, Mrs Obama’s mother.
There was a full military honour guard for the pope along with four grandstands of cheering well-wishes who cheered: “Welcome to the USA” as he arrived.
In line with his preference for eschewing extravagance, Francis was driven away from the airfield in the backseat of a small, black Fiat.
The pope will mix his visit with meeting powerful US political constituents and underprivileged communities representing the mentally ill, the poor and prison inmates.
He will visit Mr Obama at the White House in Washington on Wednesday and on Thursday will become the first pope to address a joint meeting of the US Congress.
Francis, the first Pope from Latin America, will travel to New York later on Thursday, attending evening prayers at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.
On Friday he will attend a multi-religious service to commemorate those who lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 attacks at the 9/11 memorial, on the site of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers in lower Manhattan.
Later that day, he will be the fourth pope to address the United Nations. He will finish his trip by attending a conference on the family in Philadelphia over the weekend.
Remarks by the pontiff, on his tenth foreign trip and the longest since he was elected Pope in 2013, will be closely watched given his strong views on tackling climate change and social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
These are all lightning rod issues at a frenetic time in US politics with a large field of candidates running for the presidency in 2016 and jockeying for position.
The Argentine pontiff will make 18 speeches during his time, all but three of which will be in his native Spanish.
Bishop Christopher Coyne, incoming director of the communications committee of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, told The Guardian newspaper that he would stick mainly in Spanish because of his limited English.
“He took three months of English in Dublin in 1980,” said Bishop Coyne. Asked if Francis would speak with a Dublin accent, he said: “We’ll see.”
