Pope Francis adds overnight visit to France to busy travel schedule
1 August 2023, 11:04
The pontiff will also visit Portugal and Mongolia in a flurry of trips just weeks after having abdominal surgery.
Pope Francis will make a two-day trip to Marseille, France, in late September, adding to a flurry of trips the 86-year-old pontiff will soon be making only weeks after leaving hospital following abdominal surgery.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis had said that he would go to the port city to participate in a meeting of Mediterranean-area Catholic bishops, but until the Vatican released his schedule, it wasn’t clear how long he would stay.
On his second day in Marseille, the Pope will meet with the bishops and in late afternoon preside at Mass in the city’s football stadium.
Francis heads to Lisbon, Portugal, on August 2 for a five-day trip centered around a Catholic youth jamboree.
While in Portugal, he will make a helicopter trip to Fatima, the site of a popular shrine to the Virgin Mary.
Then on August 31, he is scheduled to fly to Mongolia for the first-ever visit by a pontiff to the Asian country, which has a tiny Catholic community.
Three trips in a span of two months will test how well Francis has rebounded from abdominal surgery in June to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring from previous surgeries.
In 2021, he underwent surgery in Rome to remove a section of his bowel that had narrowed and earlier this year, the Pope was hospitalised for bronchitis.
His pilgrimage to Marseille begins in the afternoon of September 22.
Upon arrival at Marseille’s airport, he will be officially welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official Vatican schedule.
Francis and diocesan clergy will have a prayer service in the city’s Notre Dame de la Garde basilica and then the Pope will preside at what the Vatican calls a “moment of reflection with religious leaders” near a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea.
During his papacy, Francis has repeatedly decried the loss of migrants’ lives in the Mediterranean while attempting to cross the sea in smugglers’ unseaworthy vessels launched from the shores of northern Africa.
On his final day in Marseille, the Pope’s schedule begins at the archbishop’s residence with a private meeting with people struggling with economic problems.
Before heading to the stadium for Mass, Francis will meet with Mr Macron for talks, an exchange of gifts and an official photo opportunity, the Vatican said.
