Pope Francis this week revealed his plan to travel to Italy, Jerusalem, and Asia in the coming months.
“I think papal trips are always good,” the pope was quoted as saying during the flight back to Rome after a week in Brazil.
Pope Francis, however, said there is still “nothing definite-definite,” but added that he will “tell you what I’m thinking.”
The pope is set to travel to Cagliari in southern Italy on September 22 to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria. On October 4 he will go to Assisi for the feast of St. Francis.
He said he also hopes to fulfill an idea proposed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who suggested they meet in Jerusalem in 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras.
Pope Francis also said “it is possible to go to Asia,” although he said “this is all up in the air.”
“A trip to Asia must be made, because Pope Benedict didn’t have time to go to Asia and it is important,” he said.
“I think it is possible to go to Asia, even if everything is still up in the air,” he added. “I have received invitations to go to Sri Lanka and to the Philippines.”
The Philippines officially invited Pope Francis immediately after his inauguration Mass last March.
Sources
Image: ANSA/TELENEWS/CNA