The Pontiff also revealed that he is already planning the apostolic trips that he will possibly make in the year 2022.
Vatican City (24/10/2021 13:00, Gaudium Press) During an interview with Argentina’s Télam news agency, Pope Francis announced the destinations of his next international trips, some of them still during this year 2021.
According to the Pontiff, in early December he will go to Greece and Cyprus. However, it is also possible that a visit to the island of Lesbos, where he was in April 2016, will be included in his travel itinerary.
Possible papal trips in 2022
Pope Francis also stated that in the year 2022 he plans to visit some countries in Africa and Europe. In addition, he also plans to undertake a tour of Oceania, being the first time he would visit this continent.
The Holy Father says he has two trips in mind for next year: one to the Congo and another to Hungary. He also recalled that of the trips to Papua New Guinea and East Timor, which were scheduled for 2020 but were suspended because of the pandemic.
Pope Francis’ international apostolic trips
Pope Francis is the second Pope with the greatest number of trips, surpassing Pope Paul VI and Pope Benedict XVI, second only to Saint John Paul II, who made more than a hundred apostolic trips. A fact that draws attention is that he is the first Pope in recent history not to visit his native country, Argentina.
His first international trip was to Brazil in 2013, where he participated in World Youth Day. In 2014 he travelled to Israel, Jordan, Palestine, South Korea, Albania, France and Turkey. Already in 2015 he went to Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Cuba, the United States, Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic.
In 2016 he travelled again to Cuba and then went to Mexico, Greece, Armenia, Poland, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Sweden. Already in 2017, he visited Egypt, Portugal, Colombia, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
In 2018, the Pontiff went to Chile, Peru, Switzerland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. And in 2019, he went on to Panama, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia, Romania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Japan and Thailand
In 2020 Pope Francis has not made any apostolic trips because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 he has already visited Iraq, Hungary (where he celebrated the closing ceremony of the International Eucharistic Congress) and Slovakia. (EPC)
