Biden, 77, who is a practising Catholic, said the hymn has inspired him through the final days of his election campaign.

He would be the second Catholic to hold the office of the President after John F Kennedy in 1960. The Democrat leader lost Beau, an Iraq war veteran who had served as Delaware’s attorney general, in 2015 to a brain tumour at the age of 46.

Biden defeated Donald Trump in a bitter and closely-fought presidential election - billed as one of the most divisive in recent American history. The President-elect gave his victory speech before a drive-in audience in his hometown, Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday night, nearly ending the uncertainty over the outcome of Tuesday's election.

On Eagles' Wings "captures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America, and a hope, and I hope it can provide some comfort and solace to the 230,000 Americans who have lost a loved one due to this terrible virus this year," said Biden. Biden said he hoped the song would give comfort to the many Americans who are grieving a loved one as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, CNN reported.

"My heart goes out to each and every one of you," he said, adding "hopefully this hymn gives you solace as well." The US is the worst-affected country due to the COVID-19 pandemic with over 9,849,000 cases and more than 237,000 deaths, according to the latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University. He then recited the hymn: "He will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn and make you to shine like the sun and hold you in the palm of his hand." "Now together, on eagle's wings we embark on the work that God and history has called upon us to do," said Biden.

"With full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with love country and a thirst for justice, let us be the country we know we can be," he said.