Pope's 47 trips reflected his desire to draw close to world's peripheries

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had said he always tried to avoid traveling "because I'm a homebody."

As Pope Francis, he was anything but.

In his 12 years as head of the universal church, Pope Francis took 47 trips abroad, visiting more than 65 countries and covering more than 270,000 miles, which is equivalent to 11 times around the Earth.

His diminishing physical abilities did not stop him from taking the longest trip of his papacy in September 2024. His final trip was to the Mediterranean island of Corsica, just two days before his 88th birthday.

Many of his international trips were to countries where Christians are a minority or where he could draw close to people on the fringes of the world's attention.

Even in countries where it is typical for popes to visit, Pope Francis' choice of activities was sometimes surprising and showed his desire to stay close to marginalized people and those who suffer.

During his apostolic visit to the United States in 2015, the pope received a regal welcome, he met with President Barack Obama at the White House and became the first pope to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. Yet immediately following the historic moment, he ate lunch with homeless people at a local parish. In Philadelphia, he visited a maximum-security prison before celebrating Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Other trips have seen the pope visit homes for the elderly, hospitals and refugee camps, including what had been the largest camp in Europe: in Lesbos, Greece. He took 12 refugees back to Rome with him after a visit in 2016 and, five years later, visited again and criticized world leaders for an "indifference that kills."

Pope Francis visited some of the poorest countries in the world, such as Mozambique and Madagascar in 2019 and Congo and South Sudan in 2023.

In countries experiencing war, he pleaded for peace as he did during a visit to the Central African Republic in 2015, and in nations recovering from conflict, he promoted reconciliation as he did in Iraq in 2021.

He took part in four World Youth Days with the 2013 gathering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, being the first foreign journey of his pontificate. He went to Kraków, Poland, in 2016; Panama City, Panama, in 2019; and Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023, after the COVID pandemic canceled the event in 2021.

On the road he made many of the statements that became emblematic of his papacy. For example, in Portugal he told young people, "There is space for everyone" in the church -- "todos, todos, todos" -- and on the papal plane from Brazil, he told reporters, "Who am I to judge?" referring to a person who is gay and searches sincerely for the Lord.

He returned to Latin America six times -- but never went back to his native Argentina. He traveled to every continent, including Oceania, which he finally visited when he went to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea in 2024.

Reflecting his deep commitment to interreligious dialogue and Christian-Muslim relations, Pope Francis visited 14 Muslim-majority nations. He underlined the need to work together to face today's global challenges and moral crises, and to condemn all forms of religious extremism.

Yet just as notable as the countries Pope Francis did visit are those he did not: Spain, Germany and England, all visited by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

And although he made several trips to Asia, he never got to fulfill his dream of traveling to China, a place where his predecessor, St. John Paul II, had also wanted to go but never managed.