This is a list of pastoral visits of Pope Francis. His visit to the Philippines in January 2015 included the largest papal event in history with around 6–7 million attendees in his final Mass at Manila, surpassing the then-largest papal event at World Youth Day 1995 in the same venue twenty years earlier.
International visits
2013
(July 22 to July 29, 2013)
Francis visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for World Youth Day. This was the only scheduled foreign trip for him in the year. Francis was officially welcomed to Brazil during a ceremony at Guanabara Palace and met with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. Throughout the celebrations, Francis gathered up to 3.5 million pilgrims to celebrate Mass at Copacabana Beach. During his vigil address, Francis urged the pilgrims not to be "part-time Christians", but to lead full, meaningful lives. The trip was previously scheduled for his predecessor, Benedict XVI, before his retirement.
2014
, , and (May 24 to May 26, 2014) Francis visited Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem during his three-day trip to the region from 24 to 26 May. The trip was announced during the Sunday Angelus on 5 January 2014. Francis arrived in Jordan on 24 May and after meeting with King Abdullah II, celebrated Mass at Amman International Stadium. During his trip, Francis prayed at the Israeli West Bank barrier and also visited the Victims of Acts of Terror Memorial with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Francis concluded his tour by meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew I to continue inter-faith dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Church.
(August 14 to August 18, 2014) Pope Francis arrived in Seoul Air Base on 14 August to start his five-day visit to South Korea on the occasion of the Sixth Asian Youth Day. Upon arrival, Francis was greeted by South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Afterwards, Francis held a private meeting with the families of victims of the MV Sewol ferry disaster. He later made a speech in English, his first as Pope. Speaking at the Presidential Office in Seoul he said "I came here thinking of peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula." Francis held the first public Mass of his trip on 15 August in front of a 50,000 strong crowd at Daejeon World Cup Stadium where he asked Koreans to "reject inhumane economic models which create new forms of poverty and marginalize workers." He beatified the first generation of 124 Korean Martyrs in Gwangwhamun Square on front of an estimated crowd of 800,000 people on 16 August. Francis concluded his five-day visit with a Mass for peace and reconciliation of the divided Korean peninsula in Seoul's Myeongdong Cathedral.
(September 21, 2014) Pope Francis announced in his Angelus address on 15 June 2014 that he would make a one-day visit to the city of Tirana in Albania. He said: "With this brief visit, I want to confirm the Church of Albania in the faith, and bear witness to my encouragement and love for a country that has suffered for so long in consequence of the ideologies of the past". Security concerns were raised in the days before the visit after Iraqi governmental officials warned they had received intelligence reports suggesting Islamic fundamentalists may be planning an attempt on the Pope's life while in Albania.
The 11-hour visit was the first European trip made by Francis. He said in August that he had chosen Albania as the first destination because it has set a model for harmony between the various religions by establishing a national unity government that includes Muslims, Orthodox, and Catholic Christians. During his stay, he met Albanian President Bujar Nishani, celebrated Mass in Mother Teresa square in Tirana, and met with religious leaders, including those of the Muslim, Orthodox, Bektashi, Jewish and Protestant faiths. He also honored those persecuted under the rule of former communist dictator Enver Hoxha. Some 130 Christian clergy died in detention or were executed during the 1944–1985 dictatorship of Hoxha, who declared Albania the world's first atheist state in 1967. Pictures of some of the priests persecuted or executed during the period were hung in Tirana's main Martyrs of the Nation boulevard ahead of the pope's visit. Albania has since seen a revival of Catholicism partly owing to the popularity of Mother Teresa, who had Albanian origins despite being born in what is now Macedonia.
(November 25, 2014) Pope Francis made a four-hour visit, the shortest made by any pope abroad, to Strasbourg on 25 November 2014, where he addressed the European Parliament and the Council of Europe raising issues such as the dignified treatment of immigrants arriving illegally in Europe and better conditions for workers.