Map: Which countries has Pope Francis visited?

Pope Francis is visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan this week.

The 86-year-old leader of the Catholic church will start his trip on Tuesday in the Congolese capital Kinshasa before heading to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on Friday.

The Vatican’s envoy to the DRC, where Catholics make up about half of the population, has said the trip will remind the world not to ignore decades-long conflicts there.

An estimated 5.7 million people are internally displaced in the DRC and 26 million face severe hunger, largely because of the impact of armed conflict by multiple rebel groups, according to the United Nations.

The trip will be Francis’s 40th abroad since he was elected supreme pontiff in 2013 following the resignation of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI. Over the course of these trips, the pope has visited 59 countries.

Pope Francis’ trip to the DRC is the first visit by a pope since John Paul II travelled there in 1985 – it was still known as Zaire at the time.

The DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and has a population of some 90 million people. The Church runs about 40 percent of the country’s health facilities and about 6 million children are taught in Catholic schools.

The countries the pope has visited include:

Americas

Brazil: July 2013

Bolivia: July 2015

Ecuador: July 2015

Paraguay: July 2015

United States: September 2015

Cuba: September 2015, February 2016

Mexico: February 2016

Colombia: September 2017

Chile: January 2018

Peru: January 2018

Panama: January 2019

Canada: July 2022

Pope Francis waves to people from his popemobile in the Varginha slum, part of the Manguinhos slum complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 25, 2013.

Asia

South Korea: August 2014

Sri Lanka: January 2015

Philippines: January 2015

Armenia: June 2016

Georgia: September 2016

Azerbaijan: October 2016

Myanmar: November 2017

Bangladesh: November 2017

Thailand: November 2019

Japan: November 2019

Kazakhstan: September 2022

Pope Francis arrives at Yangon International Airport

Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at Yangon International Airport, Myanmar November 27, 2017. [Max Rossi / REUTERS]

Africa

Kenya: November 2015

Uganda: November 2015

Central African Republic: November 2015

Egypt: April 2017

Morocco: March 2019

Mozambique: September 2019

Madagascar: September 2019

Mauritius: September 2019

Democratic Republic of Congo: January 2023

South Sudan: February 2023 (planned)

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, centre-left, walks out in a procession after leading a Holy Mass for the Martyrs of Uganda at the Catholic Sanctuary in Namugongo, Kampala, Uganda, November 28, 2015 [Ben Curtis / AP Photo]

Europe

Albania: September 2014

France: November 2014

Turkey: November 2014

Bosnia and Herzegovina: June 2015

Greece: April 2016

Poland: July 2016

Sweden: October 2016

Portugal: May 2017

Switzerland: June 2018

Ireland: August 2018

Estonia: September 2018

Latvia: September 2018

Lithuania: September 2018

Bulgaria: May 2019

North Macedonia: May 2019

Romania: May 2019

Hungary: September 2021

Slovakia: September 2021

Cyprus: December 2021

Greece: December 2021

Malta: April 2022

Pope Francis speaks in the “Ambassadors' Chamber” of the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta, Malta

Pope Francis speaks in the Ambassadors’ Chamber of the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta, Malta, on April 2, 2022 [Remo Casilli / REUTERS]

Middle East

Israel: May 2014

Jordan: May 2014

Palestine: May 2014

United Arab Emirates: February 2019

Iraq: March 2019

Bahrain: November 2022

-bbc