Chapter 21 A Global Papacy: The International Travels of Francis and Geopolitics

Andrew P. Lynch

21.1 Introduction

Popes are international figures who draw significant media attention and large crowds wherever they go. As well as making important statements from the Vatican, in recent times have travelled widely. Papal travels, which are also referred to as Apostolic Journeys, are conducted for a number of reasons, including pastoral visits to communities in different parts of the globe, to spread the message of the and evangelise, and to draw atten- tion to global trends of concern to the pope and the Church. They also travel to attend , which is held regularly in different host countries. The mobility of the modern papacy has become an important element in the establishment of global Catholicism since the pontificate of Paul VI and the jet-setting papacy of John Paul II. Benedict XVI visited a number of nations, and is continuing this trend with a comprehensive schedule of visits around the globe. Papal visits are also avenues for popes to address geo- political issues that need urgent action during their pontificate. Pope Francis has chosen to visit some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world to advance his message that global economic and social inequality, peace and violence, the displacement of refugees, and the environment, are issues in need of urgent attention. This paper argues that an analysis of the destinations that Pope Francis has chosen to visit is connected to his call for greater compassion and understand- ing across the globe, and that such a use of papal visits conforms with the way previous popes have used their travel to highlight key geopolitical issues. The paper will present an overview of Pope Francis’s international itinerary and analyse a selection of speeches and public addresses made on these journeys to determine to what degree these visits are connected to issues that he sees as important in the current geopolitical climate. Furthermore, the way that his travels and the issues that they highlight are concerned with important developments in geopolitics, especially terrorism, the environment, glob- al inequality, and the refugee crisis, will be assessed. This paper will offer a

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004416987_022 A Global Papacy: The International Travels of Pope Francis 359 multidisciplinary perspective on these issues, utilising theory from both the sociology of religion and from geopolitical studies to assess how papal travels impact on local situations and global affairs. In this respect, the paper will ex- plore a range of sociological studies to situate Pope Francis’s travels, and their geopolitical ramifications, within wider discussions about the public presence of religion in secular and diverse multifaith societies, and in the context of debates about secularization.

21.2 Papal Itineraries and Geopolitics

For much of the papacy’s history, popes did not usually travel far from unless urgent affairs required their presence in foreign lands. There are some exceptions to this. One was the abduction of Pope Pius VII by , who had the pope transported across a number of European borders until the el- derly pontiff died of exhaustion (Aston 2002). Napoleon was attempting to convince the pope to give legitimacy to his rule and empire, but the pope re- sisted this. However, most popes have remained in Rome where religious and administrative duties took up much of their time. But in the late twentieth century, and with the rise of global air travel, popes began to undertake signifi- cant journeys to the four corners of the globe. These journeys are often of a pastoral nature, where popes travel to meet Catholic communities and spread the Gospel. However, these journeys have also taken place within wider geopolitical contexts. During the pontificates of the first jet-setting popes of the twentieth century, Paul VI and John Paul II, the Cold War was in full swing. When Paul VI undertook a journey to the Holy Land in 1964, the Cuban Missile Crisis was still a recent memory. John Paul’s journeys to Poland were situated within Cold War tensions as the USSR sought to hold onto its legitimacy and power in its satellite states. Pope Benedict XVI’s travels took place in a context of global tensions about terrorism, and Pope Francis, as we shall see in more detail later, has travelled to a number of countries where issues of poverty and environmental degradation, the refugee crisis, and terror- ism, are at the forefront of national tensions and social problems in the coun- tries he has visited. One of the first jet-setting popes was Paul VI, who travelled to Israel dur- ing the (1962–1965). The Pope’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1964 was connected to debates in the council about interreligious dia- logue, and the desire of many for improved relations with Judaism. As O’Malley (2008) points out, Paul VI’s journey provided a significant symbolic boost to the efforts by many in the Church to create closer connections with