VATICAN CITY -- Before going to the hospital for colon surgery July 4, Pope Francis told a crowd in St. Peter's Square that he would be visiting Hungary and Slovakia Sept. 12-15.

While pundits in the West wonder whether Pope Francis really will brave out-of-control COVID-19 infections, shootings and bombings to visit Iraq, there’s not much doubt among Iraqis and others who know the Pope’s commitment to Christianity in the Middle East.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and security concerns, Pope Francis hopes to visit Iraq, an opportunity that eluded his predecessors.

AMMAN, Jordan -- On his historic visit to Iraq in March, Pope Francis hopes to encourage his Christian flock, badly bruised by sectarian conflict and brutal Islamic State attacks, while building further bridges to Muslims by extending fraternal peace.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis said that unless there is a serious new wave of COVID-19 infections in Iraq, he has every intention of visiting the country in early March.

VATICAN CITY -- In the midst of three days of prayer and fasting for peace and an end to the coronavirus pandemic, Iraqi Cardinal Louis Sako, the Baghdad-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, said Iraqis still are counting on Pope Francis to visit in March.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO PANAMA – While speaking to a journalist aboard his flight to Panama, Pope Francis confirmed that he will visit Japan this year.

Pope Paul VI made papal history on Oct. 4, 1965, becoming the first pontiff to ever leave Europe and the first to leave Italy since 1809. His destination (he’s also the first to travel by plane) was New York City, where he spent a grand total of 14 hours on the ground. He packed a lot into the quick trip, including a meeting with President Lyndon Johnson and a speech to the United Nations. Here’s a report in the Oct. 9, 1965 issue of The Register on part of Pope Paul’s historic visit.

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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM GENEVA – The question of allowing Protestants married to Catholics to receive Communion at Mass in special cases has to be decided by each individual bishop and cannot be decided by a bishops' conference, Pope Francis told reporters after a one-day ecumenical journey to Geneva.

VATICAN – Pope Francis' one-day pilgrimage to Geneva will mark another major ecumenical moment in his papacy.

OTTAWA – Pope Francis is unlikely to be swayed by a House of Commons near-unanimous motion calling on him to apologize in Canada for abuses at Catholic run residential schools, said Archbishop Richard Gagnon.

OTTAWA – In a rare show of unanimity, the House of Commons has overwhelmingly supported a motion to call on Pope Francis to apologize on Canadian soil for abuses that occurred at church-run residential schools.

OTTAWA – Canada’s bishops may face an unprecedented call from Parliament to formally ask Pope Francis to apologize on Canadian soil for the Church’s role in operating residential schools.

Pope Francis won’t be coming to Canada to personally apologize for the suffering endured by Indigenous Canadians at residential schools, a decision that has prompted disappointment from several corners, including the prime minister.

Despite being unable to use the word Rohingya while he was in Myanmar, the Pope’s message on religious diversity and respect for minorities got through loud and clear, a Catholic refugee from Myanmar told The Catholic Register.