Where will the pope travel this year?

The pope is expected to maintain a lively travel schedule, although he will not be visiting the U.S. in 2026.

The Vatican announced earlier this month that Pope Leo will not visit the United States this year, putting a halt to speculation that the pope might visit his home country for the 250th anniversary of its independence.

But the pope is expected to maintain a lively travel schedule this year and beyond, with a number of trips confirmed and several others likely.

Where is the pope going? When will he travel? And what will he do in the places he intends to visit?

Pope Leo XIV. © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

Monaco

The Vatican press office said on Feb. 10 that Pope Leo was considering a one-day trip to Monaco in late March.

However, Riviera Radio, a local radio station, reported a day later that the visit may happen in April or June instead.

Monaco, located south of France, is one of the few remaining micronations in Europe, and is one of the few confessionally Catholic countries in the world.

Prince Albert II of Monaco made international headlines in Nov. 2025 when he blocked a bill which would have legalized abortion in the principality.

The prince was received in an audience by the pope on Jan. 17, and then had a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, secretary for relations with states.

If the papal visit materializes, Pope Leo would become the first pope to visit the wealthy microstate. However, no further details of the potential papal visit have been made public yet.

Africa

During the in-flight press conference after his visit to Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo expressed a desire to visit Africa.

“Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places of Saint Augustine, but also in order to continue the conversation of dialogue, of building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world,” he said.

Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers told journalists outside the Paul VI audience hall after the extraordinary consistory on Jan. 8 that he discussed a possible trip to Algeria with the pope and that the visit was “on track.”

The papal nuncio to Algeria, Archbishop Javier Herrera, also discussed the possibility during a Feb. 8 press conference after he presented his diplomatic credentials to Algeria’s president.

Herrera said he had discussed the visit with the president during their meeting, and added that a papal visit would “strengthen the ties of friendship and respect between our two countries.”

Meanwhile, two other African countries have officially announced that Pope Leo will visit their country in the first half of 2026.

In January, Archbishop Kryspin Dubiel, apostolic nuncio to Angola, said Pope Leo had accepted an invitation to visit Angola as part of a multi-country trip.

A week later, the bishops’ conference of Equatorial Guinea announced, alongside the country’s president Teodoro Obiang Nguema, that the pope had accepted an invitation to visit the country. The last papal trip to Equatorial Guinea was made by Saint John Paul II in 1982.

Cameroon has also been rumored for a potential papal visit, but recent instability after a controversial presidential election in Oct. 2025 might mean the pope decides to go elsewhere.

Spain

In a press conference during his trip to Turkey and Lebanon, the pope was asked if he was hoping to visit Spain soon, to which he replied, “You can have more than hope.”

In early January, Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid and Archbishop Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish bishops’ conference, had a meeting at the Secretariat of State to organize the trip, after which they confirmed that the pope intends to visit Spain, and that the main destinations will be Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands.

In a Feb. 17 interview with the bishops’ conference radio station, Archbishop Joan Planellas of Tarragona said that the visit will take place June 6-12. The Vatican has not confirmed the information, but the Spanish bishops have already appointed an organizing committee and started fundraising for the visit.

According to Planellas, confirming several previous media reports, the pope is set to visit Madrid June 6-9. June 7 is Corpus Christi this year, which has raised speculation about a possible Corpus Christi procession led by the pope in the streets of Madrid.

Other reports have speculated about a massive event with young people at the Santiago Bernabéu soccer stadium, the same place where Saint John Paul II had a similar encounter during his first visit to Spain in 1982. However, the stadium might prove too small for such an event, leading to other possibilities being considered.

The stop in Madrid would presumably also include a meeting with Spanish authorities at a time in which relations between the local hierarchy and the Spanish government are tense.

It is expected that the pope will visit Barcelona on June 10 to celebrate the centenary of the death of Ven. Antoni Gaudí, the architect of the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, and to inaugurate the Jesus Christ tower of the basilica, the largest in the church.

Lastly, the pope is expected to visit the Canary Islands, following Pope Francis’ wish to visit the islands.

While Francis never travelled to Spain as a pope, he repeatedly showed an interest in travelling to the Canary Islands, as they have received thousands of migrants and refugees from Africa.

South America

It is widely expected that Pope Leo will visit his beloved Peru this year, in what will likely be a multi-country tour of South America.

Bishop Carlos García, president of the Peruvian bishops’ conference, said after his ad limina visit on Jan. 31 that there was an 80% chance that the pope would this year visit the country in which he served as a bishop and missionary for three decades.

After the ad limina visit, the Peruvian minister of foreign affairs, Hugo de Zela, confirmed that the Peruvian government had sent a formal letter of invitation to the pope, and that the “Vatican confirmed he wants to come to Peru, he decided to come to our country.”

The visit is expected to take place in November or early December. The pope reportedly wants to wait until the country has held its presidential elections, which will take place in April, and its regional elections, which fall in October.

While no details have been confirmed, it is widely believed that the pope will visit the capital of Lima, as well as Chiclayo, the diocese in which he served as a bishop for a decade. No other place has been specifically discussed, but it is likely that the pope will visit at least one more Peruvian city.

Moreover, it is also believed that the pope will add stops to Argentina and Uruguay to this trip, as he mentioned both countries when asked about upcoming papal trips during a press conference outside Castel Gandolfo in November 2025.

Pope Francis famously never returned to his home country after becoming pope. Pope Francis said in a 2024 interview that he had tried to plan a 2017 trip to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, but the trip was planned for January, when the vast majority of Argentines go on vacation and Buenos Aires is deserted.

And while the pope expressed a wish to return to his home country in 2024 and 2025, his already full travelling schedule, elections in Argentina, and his health prevented such a trip.

Meanwhile, Uruguayan president Yamandú Orsi said Pope Leo expressed interest in visiting his country following a papal audience in Oct. 2025.

And Bishop Guillermo Cornejo, auxiliary bishop of Lima, said in an interview after his ad limina visit that the pope had mentioned the possibility of going to Ecuador during his trip to South America.

Mexico and Fátima

During a November press conference in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo mentioned that he would like to go to visit Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal, and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, fueling speculation about potential trips.

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar, Archbishop of Mexico City, had an audience with Pope Leo on Jan. 15, during which he invited the pope to visit the country and said that the pope was “very thankful [with the invitation] and showed his wish and desired to be soon in our country to place his pontificate at the hands of Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

However, with all the trips planned for this year, it is unlikely that he will go to either of these destinations in 2026.

Australia and South Korea

Pope Leo indicated he will visit Sydney in 2028 to preside over the International Eucharistic Congress, according to Bishop Richard Umber, auxiliary bishop of Sydney and head of the congress’ organizing committee.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited the pope for the congress the day after his installation as pope in May last year.

Umbers also said that the pope confirmed his intention to Archbishop Anthony Fisher during a recent meeting between the two.

“[Fisher] said to him, ‘Look, we’re counting down the days for you to come to the International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held here in 2028’ and the pope said, ‘Well, it’s still a way off, but I’ll be there.’”

While the pope has not commented on his participation in the 2027 World Youth Day in Seoul, he would be the first pontiff in history to miss the event if he did not attend, making his absence unlikely.