At the end of his trip to Brazil, Pope Francis also told reporters
that it is good for a pope to travel and there are plans in the works
for visits in Italy, to Jerusalem, to Asia, but nothing planned soon for
his Argentine homeland. During his flight back to Rome, following World Youth Day he said: “I think papal trips are always good.”
Pope Francis said that the papal trip was good for Brazil “not just because of the Pope’s presence, but because for World Youth Day they mobilised and did so well that it will help the whole church,” he said.
As for future foreign trips, Pope Francis said there is “nothing definite-definite.”
What is definite, he said, is a trip to Cagliari, Italy on September 22, to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, the Marian title that led to the name of the Pope’s hometown, Buenos Aires.
He will also visit Assisi on October 4 for the feast of St Francis.
He also said he hoped to make a one-day trip to northern Italy to visit his relatives with whom he speaks often by phone, but has not had an opportunity to visit since becoming pope in March.