Earlier this year, the pope said he would travel to the French port city to take part in a meeting of Catholic bishops from the Mediterranean, but until the Vatican released its schedule for the Sept. 22-23 pilgrimage on Saturday, it was unclear. How long would your stay be?
On his second day in Marseille, Francis will meet with the bishops and in the afternoon he will preside at a mass at a soccer stadium in the city.
Francis will travel to Lisbon, Portugal, on August 2, for a meeting of young Catholics and will take advantage of the visit to go by helicopter to Fatima, where there is a popular sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
On August 31, he is scheduled to fly to Mongolia for what will be the first ever papal visit to the Asian nation, which has a tiny Catholic community.
These three trips in just two months will test how well the pontiff has recovered from abdominal surgery he underwent in June to repair a hernia and remove scar tissue from previous operations. In 2021, Francisco underwent another operation in Rome to remove a section of intestine that had narrowed. Earlier this year, he was hospitalized to receive intravenous antibiotics to treat bronchitis.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
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