New York - Pope Benedict XVI arrived at the United Nations world headquarters on Friday where he was to deliver an address to the UN General Assembly.

The pope and his entourage of cardinals arrived earlier than expected and the group was taken to the 38th floor office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was shown on television showing the pontiff the decorations of his office.

The pope and Ban were to meet privately briefly before the pope was to go to the 192-nation assembly to deliver his speech. dpa