Pope visits Mexico and Cuba

After holding a historic first meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Cuba, Pope Francis will visit some of the poorest and most violent corners of Mexico on his first visit as pontiff

UNITED

STATES

TEXAS

El Paso

U.S.

Ciudad

Juárez

5

GULF OF

MEXICO

MEXICO

1

San Cristóbal

de las Casas

Mexico

City

Havana

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Morelia

1

Feb 12, Cuba:

CUBA

2

Pope Francis meets

with Patriarch Kirill

at Havana airport –

first papal meeting with

head of Russian Orthodox

Church since Western and

Eastern branches of

Christianity split in 1054

BELIZE

4

HONDURAS

CARIBBEAN SEA

3

NICARAGUA

Tuxtla

Gutiérrez

COSTA RICA

GUATEMALA

PANAMA

EL SALVADOR

2

Feb 13, Mexico City:

Meets President Enrique Peña Nieto. Holds

Mass in Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe –

world’s most-visited Marian shrine

Feb 14:

Expected to draw 2.3 million

spectators during motorcade and rally in

Ecatepec, on outskirts of Mexico City

ECUADOR

3

Feb 15:

Flies to Chiapas, Mexico’s

poorest state. Celebrates Mass with

indigenous communities in San Cristóbal

de las Casas and meets with families

at stadium in Tuxtla Gutiérrez

PERU

200km

4

Feb 16:

Addresses young people at stadium in

125 miles

Morelia, capital of violence-ridden state of Michoacán

5

Feb 17:

Presides over cross-border Mass in Ciudad Juárez,

now shedding image as Mexico’s former murder capital.

Pope expected to address plight of migrants trying to reach U.S.

Meets inmates at infamous CERESO state prison before departing for Rome

Source: Vatican

Pictures: Getty Images