In an interview with the Argentinian newspaper La Nación, Pope Francis revealed his plans to visit the country. He hopes to visit Argentina in 2024 after the elections, since popes try not to travel during election periods to avoid influencing political outcomes.
The Pope already had plans to visit Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in 2017. But the trip to Argentina was postponed because it coincided with the end of Michelle Bachelet's presidential term. He explained this on the flight back from his visit to Iraq.
POPE FRANCIS
I always respond a little ironically: I've spent 76 years in Argentina—that's enough, isn't it? But there is one thing that I don't know why it hasn't been said. There was a trip to Argentina scheduled for November 2017.
With a potential trip scheduled for next year, the visit would fall outside the country's election period. In an interview with the Vatican journalist Elisabetta Piqué, he recalled that he has been out of the country for ten years and does not have any political party affiliations.
In a letter to Vatican journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal, the Pope said he misses “walking the streets of Buenos Aires.” With a possible papal trip to his home country, Pope Francis would be able to return to the streets he loves so much.
RM
TR: AT
