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Papal travel outside Rome has been historically rare, and voluntary travel of the pope was non-existent for the first 500 years. Pope John Paul II (1978–2005) undertook more pastoral trips than all his predecessors combined. Pope Francis (2013–present), Pope Paul VI (1963–1978) and Pope Benedict XVI (2005–2013) also travelled globally, the latter to a lesser extent due to his advanced age.

Popes resided outside Rome—primarily in Viterbo, Orvieto, and Perugia—during the 13th century, and then absconded to France during the Avignon Papacy (1309–1378). Pope Vigilius (537–555) in 547, Pope Agatho (678–681) in 680, and Pope Constantine in 710 visited Constantinople, whereas Pope Martin I (649–655) was abducted there for trial in 653. Pope Stephen II (752–757) became the first pope to cross the Alps in 752 to crown Pepin the Short; Pope Pius VII repeated the feat over a millennium later for the coronation of Napoleon.

Travel before the Second Vatican Council

Outside Rome, within Italy

Pope Clement I was exiled to Chersonesos Taurica by Roman emperor Trajan and then martyred into the Black Sea, according to apocryphal accounts circa 99. Pope Pontian (230–235) died in exile in Sardinia, but resigned his pontificate before leaving the city. Pope Cornelius (251–253) died after a year of exile in Civitavecchia, 80 km from Rome. Pope Liberius (352–366) was the first pope to get far from the city as pope when he was exiled to Beroea in Thrace by Roman Emperor Constantius II. Pope John I (523–526) became the first pope to willfully travel outside Rome when he sailed for Constantinople in 523.

Pope Clement II (1046–1047) was the first pope consecrated outside Rome. Pope Urban II (1088–1099) became the first pope to travel extensively outside Rome. Elected in Terracina, Urban II held synods in Amalfi, Benevento, and Troia. He preached the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont (1095) in Clermont-Ferrand. Prior to this, Pope Leo IX (1049–1054) had been the last pope to cross the Alps for 50 years.

Although the cardinals have historically gathered at a handful of other locations within Rome and beyond, only six elections since 1455 have been held outside the Apostolic Palace, Twenty-eight papal elections have been held outside Rome, in: Terracina (1088), Cluny (1119), Velletri (1181), Verona (1185), Ferrara (Oct. 1187), Pisa (Dec. 1187), Perugia (1216, 1264–1265, 1285, 1292–1294, 1304–1305), Anagni (1243), Naples (1254, 1294), Viterbo (1261, 1268–1271, July 1276, Aug.–Sept. 1276, 1277, 1281–1282), Arezzo (Jan. 1276), Carpentras/Lyon (1314–1316), Avignon (1334, 1342, 1352, 1362, 1370), Konstanz (1417) and Venice (1799–1800).

Outside Italy, within Europe

Constantinople

Pope John I (523–526) in 523 (as a delegate of Theodoric the Great), Pope Vigilius (537–555) in 547 (called by Justinian I to account for his refusal to sign on to the canons of the Council of Chalcedon), Pope Agatho (678–681) in 680 (attending the Third Council of Constantinople), and Pope Constantine in 710 visited Constantinople (called by Justinian II), whereas Pope Martin I (649–653) was abducted there for trial in 653 following the Lateran Council of 649. Constantine was the last pope to visit Constantinople until Pope Paul VI in 1967.

France

Pope Stephen II (752–757) became the first pope to cross the Alps in 752 to crown Pepin the Short. This made him the first pope to visit the Frankish empire. Pope John VIII (872–882) visited France in 878, and Pope Leo IX (1049–1054) travelled to France on September 29, 1049. The next pope to enter France was Pope Urban II (1088–1099), who stopped at Valence and Le Puy on his way to the Council of Clermont (1095).

Pope Pius VII (1800–1823) was in Paris in 1804 for the Coronation of Napoleon I.

Holy Roman Empire

Pope Benedict VIII (1012–1024) visited Bamberg on 14 April 1020; no pope had visited the borders of modern Germany for 150 years. Pope Leo IX (1049–1054) also travelled through the modern borders of Germany. Probably the last papal visit to the Holy Roman Empire was in 1782, when Pope Pius VI visited Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, in Vienna, and Munich in Bavaria.

Travel since the 1960s

Pope Paul VI (1963–1978) became the first pope to leave Europe; no pope ever left Europe before the Second Vatican Council. He was the first to travel by airplane as pope, the first to leave Italy since 1809, and the first to visit North America, South America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia as pope.

Pope John Paul II travelled more miles as pope than all his predecessors combined, and as a result he was seen—in person—by more people than anyone else in history. He travelled approximately 721,052 miles, the equivalent of nearly 31 trips around the circumference of the Earth.

Beginning with Pope Paul VI, the popes used Alitalia as their primary airline, flying on charter flights, until Alitalia went out of business in 2021; since then, Italy's ITA Airways has been the main airline used by Pope Francis. Pope John Paul II instituted a tradition of returning to Rome on a flag carrier airline of the last country visited, when possible.

Table of destinations outside Italy (1964–present)

The table lists the international trips outside Italy made by Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.

Notes

1. Name was changed from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Zaire on 27 October 1971, and back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 16 May 1997.
2. Name was changed from Swaziland to Eswatini on 19 April 2018.
3. Name was changed from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso on 6 August 1984.
4. Hong Kong was a British crown colony at the time of Pope Paul VI's visit in 1970. It was returned to China on 1 July 1997.
5. Bangladesh was a province of Pakistan under the name of East Pakistan at the time of Pope Paul VI's visit in 1970. It became an independent sovereign state in 1971 following the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
6. Name was changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka on 29 August 1972.
7. East Timor was a province of Indonesia at the time of Pope John Paul II's visit in 1989. It became an independent sovereign state in 2002 following the 1999 East Timorese crisis and the 1999 East Timorese independence referendum.
8. Czechoslovakia was split into the independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.
9. Name was changed from Western Samoa to Samoa on 4 July 1997.

See also

• Eugenio Pacelli's 1936 visit to the United States

References

1. von Hefele, Karl Joseph and William Robinson Clark. 1876. A history of the Christian councils: from the original documents. p. 231.
2. Thomas, P. C. (2007). A Compact History of the Popes. St. Pauls Publications. p. 35. ISBN 9788171091423.
3. Lightfoot, Joseph Barber 1890. The Apostolic Fathers. p. 98.
4. Lewis, Archibald Ross (1984). Medieval Society in Southern France and Catalonia. Variorum. p. 280. ISBN 978-0860781455.
5. France, France 2005. The Crusades and the expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000–1714. p. 52.
6. Baumgartner, Frederic J. (2003). ""I Will Observe Absolute and Perpetual Secrecy:" The Historical Background of the Rigid Secrecy Found in Papal Elections". Catholic Historical Review. Vol. 89, Issue 2. pp. 165–181.
7. Fiske, Edward B (1967-07-26), "Papal Pilgrimage Is Viewed as a Major Step Toward Reunion", New York Times: 2
8. "Pope holds Mass at ancient Christian site in Turkey". USA Today. 2006-11-29. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
9. Kleinhenz, Christopher 2004. Medieval Italy: an encyclopedia. p. 847.
10. Tellenbach, Gerd 1993. The Church in western Europe from the tenth to the early twelfth century. pp. 188-89.
11. Peters, Edward 1998. The First Crusade: the chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and other source materials. pp. 17–18
12. Congressional Quarterly. 1962. Editorial research reports. p. 318.
13. Bury, John Bagnell 1922. The Cambridge Medieval History: Germany and the Western empire. p. 250.
14. Edwards, David Lawrence 1997. Christianity: the first two thousand years. p. 197.
15. Tomkins, Stephen A short history of Christianity 234 (2006).
16. Pham, John-Peter Heirs of the Fisherman: behind the scenes of papal death and succession 95, 126 (2004).
17. Facts on File, Inc. 1969. World Almanac and Book of Facts. p. 249.
18. The New York Times Encyclopedic Almanac. 1969. p. 440.
19. Sullivan, Robert (1999). Pope John Paul II: A Tribute. New York City: Time Inc. p. 81. ISBN 978-0821226773. It's not that he traveled more than any pope before. It's that he traveled more than all the previous popes put together.
20. The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 9. 2003. "Pope John Paul II." p. 122.
21. Coppa, Frank J. 2008. Politics and the papacy in the modern world. p. 10.
22. Streissguth, Thomas 2006. Pope Benedict XVI. p. 96.
23. Columbia Link. 2007. "Pope John Paul II."
24. Polk, Peggy and Kevin Eckstrom. April 4, 2005. "Pope John Paul II, Leader of World's 1 Billion Roman Catholics, Is Dead at 84."
25. Trigilio, John; Kenneth Brighenti; Jonathan Toborowsky. 2006. John Paul II for Dummies. p. 225.
26. ^ Allen, Elise Ann (24 August 2021). "This Fall, Papal Travel Will Change With Closure of Pope Francis' Favorite Airline". The Tablet. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
27. Allen Jr., John L. (18 September 2015). "Fun facts and more about life aboard the papal plane". Crux. Archived from the original on 17 November 2024. The Vatican always charters a plane for the three or four foreign trips a pope usually makes every year, often using a different aircraft for each leg of the journey. These are regular commercial planes that were in use making the Rome to London run, or something like it, the day before the trip and will be again once it's over.
28. Lauria-Blum, Julia (2 December 2021). "ITA Airways Prepares to Replace Alitalia As the Pope's Airline". Metropolitan Airport News. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
29. "Paul VI Travels". vatican.va. n.d. Archived from the original on 25 November 2021.
30. "Viaggi Apostolici del Santo Padre Sua Santità Giovanni Paolo II Statistiche" (in Italian). Vatican News Services. 13 January 2005. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
31. "List of travels of Pope John Paul II". Vatican.va. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011.
32. "Apostolic Voyages of the Holy Father His Holiness Benedict XVI". vatican.va. n.d. Archived from the original on 25 November 2021.
33. "Pope Francis Apostolic Journeys outside Italy". vatican.va. n.d.

• Diplomatic visits by heads of state
• Foreign trips by popes
• History of the papacy
• Lists of 20th-century trips
• Lists of 21st-century trips
• Timelines of Christianity
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