Since his election as Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis has made nine apostolic journeys outside of Italy:
July 22-29, 2013
Apostolic Journey to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the occasion of the 28th World YouthDay
More than 3.5 million people participated in World Youth Day 2013, which included events in Copacabana, the Quinta da Boa Vista, Rio Centro and various parishes in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
May 24-26, 2014
Pilgrimage of Pope
Francis to the Holy Land
Pope Francis visited the Holy Land in part to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, to mark the 50th anniversary of a historic encounter between their predecessors. The pope made headlines on the second day of his trip by inviting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres to join him at the Vatican to pray together for peace.
August 13-18, 2014
Apostolic Journey to the Republic of Korea
on the occasion of the
6th Asian Youth Day
In South Korea, Pope Francis celebrated Mass
on the feast of the Assumption in Daejeon's World Cup Stadium and at the beatification of Paul Yun Ji-chung and 123 martyred companions at Seoul's
Gwanghwamun port.
He also presided at the Closing
Mass for the sixth Asian Youth Day at Haemi Castle.
September 21, 2014
Apostolic Journey to Tirana, Albania
November 25, 2014
Visit of His
Holiness Pope Francis to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe
During the shortest foreign papal trip ever, Pope Francis addressed the European Parliament and urged the body to value the continent's faiths and recuperate a sense of responsibility for the common good to rejuvenate Europe's social, political and economic life. In his closing remarks, Pope Francis said: "The time has come to work together in building a Europe which revolves not around the economy, but around the sacredness of the human person, around inalienable values."
November 28-30, 2014
Apostolic Journey to Turkey
During his time in Turkey, Pope Francis visited the Hagia Sophia Museum, the sixth-century basilica that was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453, then turned into a museum in the 20th century. He also visited the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, informally known as the
Blue Mosque,where he prayed alongside a Muslim cleric. The pope concluded his visit at a Divine liturgy in the Church of St. George following a private meeting and prayer service with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
January 12-19, 2015
Apostolic Journey to Sri Lanka
and the Philippines
In Sri Lanka, Pope Francis presided at the canonization Mass for the country's first saint, Joseph Vaz, the Indian-born missionary priest who was imprisoned by the Dutch Calvinist rulers of the former Ceylon for preaching the Gospel. During the trip to a country recovering from two-and-a-half decades of ethnic and religious civil war, Pope Francis spoke frequently about reconciliation.
"The process of healing also needs to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity," Pope Francis said at an arrival ceremony at Colombo's international airport.
June 6, 2015
Apostolic Journey to Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
On a day-long trip to the Balkan nation that is still divided along ethnic lines, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Kosovo Stadium, met with priests, religious and seminarians at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, and spoke to young people at the John Paul II Diocesan Youth Center.
At the Mass, the pope said "In order to successfully oppose the barbarity of those who would make of every difference the occasion and pretext for further unspeakable violence, we need to recognize the fundamental values of human communities," values that help people communicate, forgive, build and grow."
July 5-13, 2015
Apostolic Journey to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay
Pope Francis' eight-day, three-country trip to South America, included stops in Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay and included public Masses in each for the three countries that drew huge crowds.
While there, the pope fulfilled diplomatic obligations by meeting with the nations' presidents and posing for photos with their families.
The formality of the meetings gave way quickly, though, to the heart of his trip: visits with residents of a home for the indigent elderly in Ecuador, a prison in Bolivia and a poor settlement in Paraguay. He also made unscheduled stops in Paraguay at a women's prison and at the St. Rafael Foundation, which cares for poor patients with AIDS and cancer, runs centers for abandoned and abused children and homes for the elderly.