Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

visited North America—

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

—from 19 to 27 September 2015. It was his first

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter also acting as the official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking for the host ...

to both Cuba and the U.S., as well as the third official papal visit to Cuba and the seventh to the United States since the U.S. established full diplomatic relations with the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

in 1984. The published itinerary from the Vatican described the trip: "Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Francis to Cuba and the United States of America, and Visit to the United Nations Organization Headquarters, on the occasion of his participation at the Eighth World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia."

Visit

Cuba

The pope's visit began with a tour of

– the third by a reigning Pope (after

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

's 1998 visit, and the subsequent visit in 2012 by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

) – where he visited

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Holguín, and

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains ...

19 September (Havana)

*10:15 a.m. – Departure from Rome to Havana *4:05 p.m. – Arrival Ceremony at Havana airport and speech

20 September (Havana)

*9:00 a.m. – Mass in Havana's

Plaza de la Revolución Plaza de la Revolución (), "Revolution Square", is a municipality (or borough) and a square in Havana, Cuba. The municipality, one of the 15 forming the city, stretches from the square down to the sea at the Malecón and includes the Vedado d ...

with homily; recitation of the

Angelus The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation of Christ. As with many Catholic prayers, the name ''Angelus'' is derived from its incipit—the first few words of the text: ("The Angel of the Lord ...

*4:00 p.m. – Courtesy visit with

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (; ; born 3 June 1931) is a retired Cuban politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, succee ...

*5:15 p.m. – Celebration of

Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , mea ...

with priests, religious, and seminarians in the Havana cathedral, with homily *6:30 p.m. – Greeting to young people at the Father Felix Varela cultural center in Havana

21 September (Holguín, Santiago de Cuba, El Cobre)

*8:00 a.m. – Departure for Holguín *9:20 a.m. – Arrival in Holguín *10:30 a.m. – Mass in Revolution Square with homily *3:45 p.m. – Blessing of the city from Cross Hill *4:40 p.m. – Departure for

*5:30 p.m. – Arrival at Santiago de Cuba *7:00 p.m. – Meeting with bishops at the seminary of St. Basil the Great in El Cobre *7:45 p.m. – Prayer to

Our Lady of Charity Our Lady of Charity, also known as Our Lady of El Cobre, ''Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre'' or "la Vírgen de la Caridad", is a popular Marian title of the Blessed Virgin Mary known in many Catholic countries. Several known Marian images ...

with bishops and papal entourage in the Minor Basilica of the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre

22 September (El Cobre, Santiago de Cuba)

*8:00 a.m. – Mass in the Minor Basilica of the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre with homily *11:00 a.m. – Meeting with families in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Assumption in Santiago de Cuba with speech; blessing of the city *12:15 p.m. – Farewell ceremony at Santiago de Cuba's International Airport *12:30 p.m. – Departure for Washington, D.C.

United States

The visit to the United States consisted of three cities: Washington, D.C.,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(including his visit to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

), and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

which hosted the

World Meeting of Families The World Meeting of Families is a gathering of the Roman Catholic Church that has occurred every three years since 1994. It is organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which "promotes the pastoral care of families, protects their r ...

. Tickets to attend public events with the pope were hard to obtain or sold out very quickly. During his visit, it was announced that he would be releasing a rock album titled ''Wake Up!'' in November 2015.

22 September (Washington, D.C.)

* 4:00 p.m. – Arrival from

Joint Base Andrews Joint Base Andrews (JBA) is a United States military facility located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force 316th Wing, Air Force District of Washington (AFDW). The base was ...

in Maryland, outside Washington, D.C.

23 September (Washington, D.C.)

* 9:15 a.m. – The White House – welcome ceremony and meeting with President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

. The pope spoke to a crowd of more than 11,000 people on the White House South Lawn. It was the third visit by a pope to the White House, following meetings in October 1979 between

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

and

and in April 2008 between George W. Bush and

. * 11:30 a.m. –

Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., most commonly known as St. Matthew's Cathedral, is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. As St. Matthew's Cathedral and Rectory, it has been liste ...

– Midday Prayer with the bishops of the United States * 4:15 p.m. –

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a large minor Catholic basilica and national shrine in the United States in Washington, D.C., located at 400 Michigan Avenue Northeast, adjacent to Catholic University. ...

–

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

for the canonization of

Junípero Serra Junípero Serra y Ferrer (; ; ca, Juníper Serra i Ferrer; November 24, 1713August 28, 1784) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Order. He is credited with establishing the Franciscan Missions in the Sierr ...

Pope Francis met with

Little Sisters of the Poor The Little Sisters of the Poor (french: Petites Sœurs des pauvres) is a Catholic religious institute for women. It was founded by Jeanne Jugan. Having felt the need to care for the many impoverished elderly who lined the streets of French towns ...

after mass; a Vatican spokesman stated that this was a sign of his support for them in their opposition to a contraception mandate for Catholic hospitals.

24 September (Washington, D.C.; New York City)

* 9:20 a.m. – United States Capitol Building – Pope Francis became the first pope to address a

joint session A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally separate decision-making groups meet, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose. Most often it refers to when both houses of a bicamer ...

of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

, at the invitation of House Speaker

John Boehner John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represe ...

and Minority Leader

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

, both Catholics. In his speech to Congress and other dignitaries, he devoted most of the time discussing immigration, protection for persecuted religious groups including Christians, poverty, capital punishment, and climate change. * 11:15 a.m. – St. Patrick's Church in the city and Catholic Charities of the

Archdiocese of Washington The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its territorial remit encompasses the District of Columbia and the counties of Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, ...

visit * 4:00 p.m. – Departure from Joint Base Andrews * 5:00 p.m. – Arrival at

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

, New York * 6:45 p.m. – St. Patrick's Cathedral in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

– Evening Prayer/Vespers Kim Davis and her husband met briefly with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington (Embassy of the Holy See) with "several dozen" other people. The Vatican issued a statement saying the Pope's meeting with Davis "should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects." According to Father Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, Davis was not invited to the nunciature, and "the meeting may have been manipulated by her and her lawyer."

25 September (New York City, United Nations)

* 8:30 a.m. –

United Nations Headquarters zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

– address to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

* 11:30 a.m. –

National September 11 Memorial & Museum The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bom ...

and World Trade Center – multi-religious service * 4:00 p.m. – Our Lady Queen of Angels Elementary School,

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, ...

– visit * 4:45 – 5:15 p.m. – Papal Procession through

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

* 6:00 p.m. –

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

– Mass

26 September (New York City, Philadelphia)

* 8:40 a.m. –

departure * 9:30 a.m. –

Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia International Airport is the primary airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The airport served 19.6 million passengers annually in 2021, making it the 21st busiest airport in the United States. The airport is located from t ...

arrival,

Atlantic Aviation Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation (MIC) owns, operates and invests in a diversified group of infrastructure businesses. Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation's business consists of the largest network of fixed-base operations in the United St ...

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

* 10:30 a.m. –

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is located at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on the east side of Logan Square in Philadelphia. It was built betwe ...

Mass * 4:45 p.m. – Independence Mall visit * 7:30 p.m. – Festival of Families at

Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin Parkway, commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia. Named for founding father Benjamin Franklin, the mile-long Parkway c ...

visit

27 September (Philadelphia)

* 9:15 a.m. – St. Martin's Chapel,

St. Charles Borromeo Seminary Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania that is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in the Philadelphia region, the school ...

in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania: meeting with bishops * 11:00 a.m. – Visit Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in

Holmesburg, Philadelphia Holmesburg began as a Village within Lower Dublin Township, Pennsylvania. It is now a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Holmesburg was named in Honor of Surveyor General of Pennsylvania Thomas Holme, who was a c ...

* 3:00 p.m. – Visit and blessing at the Jesuit

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

* 4:00 p.m. –

, Benjamin Franklin Parkway – Mass * 7:00 p.m. – Atlantic Aviation hangar: visit with organizers, volunteers, and benefactors * 7:30 p.m. – Departure from

for

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Commemorations

Philadelphia breweries released nine special, papal-themed beers in anticipation of the visit. The Delaware County Keystone Mint crafted a coin commemorating the pope's visit to the United States and the World Meeting of Families. Two Philadelphia radio stations introduced "pop-up stations" dedicated to extended coverage of the visit and its associated events, including WZMP-HD3's "Popecast", and WDAS's "Pope Info Radio". Swyft Media released a

sticker A sticker is a type of label: a piece of printed paper, plastic, vinyl, or other material with temporary or permanent pressure sensitive adhesive on one side. It can be used for decoration or for functional purposes, depending on the situation. ...

keyboard app to commemorate the visit, Popemoji, which featured cartoon images of Pope Francis for use in messaging apps (including nods to U.S. landmarks and Philadelphia).

References

External links

Official site
– United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Preparing for the Pope
( FBI) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pope Francis's Visit To The United States 2015 in Christianity 2015 in New York City 2015 in Philadelphia 2015 in Vatican City 2015 in Washington, D.C. 2015 politics in New York (state) Articles containing video clips Diplomatic visits to the United States Francis, North America History of Catholicism in the United States Holy See–United States relations Visit to North America September 2015 events in North America September 2015 events in the United States Cuba–Holy See relations