(OSV News) \u2013 The Vatican press office confirmed that Pope Leo XIV has no plans to visit the U.S. this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pope will not be going to the United States in 2026,\u201d Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in response to journalists\u2019 questions Feb 8.<\/p>\n
Vice President J.D. Vance extended an invitation on behalf of President Donald Trump during a May 19 meeting with Pope Leo, not long after his papal election, the Reuters news agency reported.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2-12-26-pope-leo-no-us-visit-300x200.jpg\")
Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims holding a flag of the United States as he arrives in St. Peter\u2019s Square on the popemobile for his general audience at the Vatican June 18, 2025. The Vatican press office confirmed Feb. 8, 2026, that Pope Leo XIV has no plans to visit the U.S. this year. (CNS photo\/Vatican Media)<\/p>\n
According to a handout video shared by the Vatican, the pope was heard saying that he would visit \u201cat some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
While many had hoped that Pope Leo would visit his homeland, the trip seemed unlikely to happen in the immediate future, given the growing divide between the Trump administration and the pope over his criticism of U.S. policies targeting migrants.<\/p>\n
Speaking with journalists outside Castel Gandolfo Sept. 30, the pope said Catholic politicians should be judged by their overall policy positions, not just a single issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who says I\u2019m against abortion but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,\u201d the pope said. \u201cAnd someone who says I\u2019m against abortion, but I\u2019m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s pro-life.\u201d<\/p>\n
At another press scrum Nov. 18, the pope expressed his support for the pastoral message released by the U.S. bishops\u2019 conference on the enforcement of immigration policies in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people are living good lives \u2014 and many of them (in the United States) for 10, 15, 20 years \u2014 to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least,\u201d is not acceptable, the pope said Nov. 18.<\/p>\n
The pope said that while every country \u201chas a right to determine who and how and when people enter,\u201d it was also important \u201cto look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have\u201d when enforcing immigration policies.<\/p>\n
Despite the pope\u2019s criticism, Trump said he was unaware of the pope\u2019s comments and was open to meeting with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, I will. Why not?\u201d the president said in an interview with Politico published Dec. 9.<\/p>\n
The Holy See typically announces papal visits months or even just weeks in advance, and it has not issued any announcement about the pope\u2019s 2026 travel destinations.<\/p>\n
However, bishops in Angola, Algeria and Spain have confirmed that Pope Leo will visit their countries this year.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo has also expressed his desire to visit Latin America during a press conference aboard the papal flight to Rome Dec. 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I would love to visit Latin America; Argentina and Uruguay are waiting for the pope\u2019s visit. Peru, I think they will receive me, too! And then, if I go to Peru, (I could visit) many neighboring countries as well. But the plan is not yet defined,\u201d the pope said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(OSV News) \u2013 The Vatican press office confirmed that Pope Leo XIV has no plans to visit the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-112363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}