After Leo’s election last May as the first U.S.-born pope, papal travel had largely been on hold. Leo had a packed calendar ministering to the 33 million pilgrims who came to the Vatican during the 2025 Holy Year. He took his first and so far only foreign trip as pope late last year, visiting Turkey and Lebanon. In recent times, only Francis undertook such an arduous and long foreign trip, when he visited Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in 2024. While the Vatican didn’t announce further foreign travel, Leo is also expected to visit his beloved Peru, and possibly Argentina and Uruguay, in the second half of 2026.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 27, 2026 23:35 UTC