Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has made 47 international trips, visiting 10 African countries, 22 Asian countries, 23 European countries, and 12 countries throughout North and South America. In total, he traveled 469,770 kilometers*, the equivalent of a trip to the moon.
He called for an extraordinary Jubilee, that of Mercy, which he began during one of his trips. He presided over another, the 2025 Jubilee dedicated to Hope, and also held 4 synods: one on the family, one on youth, one on the Amazon, and one on synodality.
He has also published several documents, including four encyclicals, one of them with Pope Benedict XVI, and 7 apostolic exhortations. Together with the Council of Cardinals, he carried out the reform of the Curia through the new apostolic constitution, the Praedicate Evangelium.
Almost 80% of the cardinal electors were chosen by him. He was also one of the popes who carried out many canonizations, if not the most: 939 people. The majority of the canonizations, 812, were the Martyrs of Otranto, who were killed during the raids carried out by the Turks on the Italian coast at the end of the 15th century.
Pope Francis was also the first pope to appoint a woman as head of a Vatican ministry. She is Sister Simona Brambilla, prefect of the dicastery in charge of religious people.
*Data compiled by Rome Reports, based on the data on kilometers per trip made by the Pope, provided by the Holy See Press Office. The moon is 384,400 km away.
JRB
TR: GS
