Argentina and Chile have invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit next year, the Vatican's secretary of state said Wednesday.A visit would coincide with the 30th anniversary of a territorial dispute over the Beagle Channel at the southern tip of South America.
The Vatican is credited with averting armed conflict between the neighboring nations by mediating a resolution.
"Everyone wants the holy father to visit," Roman Catholic Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said, noting the anniversary.
But he said the pope has a busy travel schedule next year and he was not sure whether a trip would be possible.
Benedict visited Brazil in May, his first trip to Latin America since becoming pope in 2005.
The proposal to invite the pope was raised during a meeting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet held with Fernandez last week in Santiago, Chile, on the sidelines of the Ibero-American Summit, according to Argentine government news agency Telam.
Fernandez, who succeeds her husband Dec. 10 for a four-year term, has signaled she will emphasize international diplomacy more than her husband, who was strongly focused on domestic affairs.
On Saturday, Bertone presided over the first-ever beatification of an Argentine Mapuche Indian, Ceferino Namuncura, in the Patagonian community of Chimpay.
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