Pope Francis has said that he hopes to travel to Argentina next year.
In an interview with the Argentine journalist Joaquin Morales Sola, the Pope said, “I want to go to the country next year.”
Vatican-watchers have speculated for some time about the reason why Pope Francis has not visited his native land in the ten years since his election. The Pontiff addressed that question indirectly in his interview.
“It is ten years that I am outside of the country. I don’t have the pulse of what is happening in Argentina,” the Pope said. Those comments may have been aimed to defuse concerns that a papal visit would further inflame the country’s very volatile political debates—the reason most frequently given for postponing a papal trip.