Since his election as Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis has made nine apostolic journeys outside of Italy:

Pope Francis and Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff look at a painting of the Christ the Redeemer Statue during a welcome ceremony at the Guanabara Palace in Rio de Janeiro. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

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.

 

Pope Francis prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in May 2014. CNS photo/Paul Haring

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.  

 

Young people in traditional dress cheer as Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with representatives of religious communities working in South Korea during an encounter in Kkottongnae, South Korea, in August 2014. CNS photo/Paul Haring

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.  

 

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Mother Teresa Square in Tirana, Albania, in September, 2014. CNS photo/Paul Haring

September 21, 2014
Apostolic Journey to Tirana, Albania

Pope Francis chose the poor, Muslim-majority nation of Albania as the destination for his first international trip in Europe. During the one-day trip, he celebrated Mass for Albanian Catholics in Mother Teresa Square, named for the famous ethnic Albanian, Blessed Teresa of Kolkata. During a later vespers service, Pope Francis wept at the testimony of a priest victimized by the country's former communist regime.   

November 25, 2014
Visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe

Pope Francis talks with Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in November 2014. CNS photo/Paul Haring

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

Pope Francis visits the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul in November 2014. CNS photo/Paul HaringDuring 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

Pope Francis greets an elderly woman as he arrives to pray at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary in Madhu, Sri Lanka, in January, 2014. CNS photo/Paul HaringIn 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 Pope Francis meeting with young people at the John Paul II Diocesan Youth Center in Sarajevo during his June 2015 visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina.  CNS Photo/Paul Haringseminarians 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 formPope Francis greets a young woman as he leads a meeting with young people along the waterfront in Asuncion, Paraguay, July 12, 2015. CNS photo/Paul Haringality 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.