Pope Francis News: Pontiff Expected to Visit Mexico in 2016

The Vatican recently announced that Pope Francis will set foot in Mexico in 2016.

In an interview with the Televisa network, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that although the pontiff's full itinerary would not be announced until November, the pope will travel to Mexico City and visit the capital's Basilica of Guadalupe, The Yucatan Times reported.

No exact dates were announced yet, but Televisa News Reporter and Vatican correspondent Valentina Alazraki said that Pope Francis' visit in Mexico will take place during the first half of the year, The Yucatan Times noted. The pope said in an interview with the network in March that any visit to the country would have to be at least a week long, The Guardian wrote.

According to Fox News Latino, the basilica is one of the most significant pilgrimage sites for Catholics, where an indigenous Mexican claimed of an appearance of a dark-skinned version of Mary. Pope Benedict XVI flew over the basilica in a Mexican military helicopter en route to a Mass at Bicentennial Park in March 2012. The retired pontiff's Mexico trip was the last time a pope visited the country.

Pope John Paul II, on the other hand, traveled to Mexico five times during his papacy, The Guardian noted.

An estimated 100 million Catholics are said to be residing in Mexico, making up more than 80% of the nation's population, Fox News Latino wrote. In the U.S., there are 70 million Catholics, or about 22% of the populace.

Pope Francis made a "homecoming" tour in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay in July, Reuters listed. He also paid a visit to Cuba before embarking on his first ever trip to the United States in September. His first trip abroad after he became pope was in Brazil in 2013.

The Huffington Post reported that Pope Francis expressed a desire to visit Mexico in the past and even considered flying to the U.S. from the country as a sign of support for immigrants. He ended up entering from Cuba instead.

His trip to the U.S. last month also highlighted issues of immigrations. Speaking to Americans from the White House on Sept. 23, the pontiff said that as a son of an immigrant family, he is "happy to be a guest" in the country, which was "largely built by such families," The Huffington Post added.

Aside from Mexico, Pope Francis also planned to visit his native Argentina next year, as well as Chile and Uruguay, but it's unclear whether the trips would still push through, the news outlet wrote. Another trip planned next year is in Krakow, Poland for World Youth Day.