Vatican Confirms That Pope Francis Will Visit Mexico in 2016

Pope Francis will travel to Mexico in 2016, the Vatican has confirmed, according to The Guardian.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, confirmed a Mexican Televisa television report that the Pope will visit the country, where he will pray at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Father Lombardi  said the trip would likely take place during the first half of 2016.

During his trip to Cuba and the United States, Francis said that he had originally wanted to enter the US by crossing the southern border, apparently as a way to show his support for immigrants seeking to enter the States that way. He explained that he couldn’t go to Mexico without visiting the Our Lady of Guadalupe, however, and that his itinerary for the US was already quite full. The Pontiff said in an interview with Televisa in March that any visit to Mexico would have to be at least a week long.

On the trip to Mexico, he is expected to travel to an area on the border with the US where migrants try to cross illegally.