From Europe to Asia: How three popes redrew the map of Catholic outreach

The foreign visits of the last three popes illustrate how the Catholic church's diplomatic priorities have evolved in recent decades, moving increasingly away from Europe.

As Pope Leo XIV makes his first foreign visit to Muslim-majority Turkey, using information from the University of Denver Country and Organization Leader Travel (Colt) database and the official Vatican website, AFP takes a look at the foreign travels of his three predecessors:

While Europe has always been a key destination, Argentinian Pope Francis turned papal attention to Asia, including the Middle East. He made nearly a third of his foreign visits to the region, almost as much as Europe (34 percent).

Seeking to reach out to places neglected by the Catholic Church, Francis made more visits to East Asia and Southeast Asia than any other pope -- 12 percent of his visits. Pope Benedict never visited the region and John Paul II made less than four percent of his visits there.

Francis was the first pope to go to mainly Buddhist Myanmar, in 2017.

Although he expressed a wish to go there, Francis never, however, visited communist China, which broke off diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1951.

Often praised for his commitment to inter-religious dialogue, Francis also went more often to Muslim countries, which accounted for nearly 20 percent of his visits.

Unlike his predecessors, he mainly went to Muslim countries with a marginalised Catholic community. In 2021 he became the only pope to visit Iraq, meeting top Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

In 12 years as pope, Francis made 66 foreign visits, including three times to France, but never Catholic stronghold Spain.

Elected in 2005 at the age of 78, Benedict XVI is, among Leo's three predecessors, the one who made fewest trips outside Europe. He made 48 percent of his foreign visits there.

Before he stepped down in 2013, he made 24 foreign visits, including Spain and his home country of Germany three times each.

He went very rarely to Africa and Latin America, which have devout Catholic communities. Each accounted for 10 percent of his trips.

Of Leo XIV's three predecessors, John Paul II travelled the most.

Between 1978 and 2005, the Polish pontiff, who was only 58 when elected, went on an average of eight foreign trips a year, compared with six for Francis and four for Benedict.

He carried out 126 visits in all. going to the United States and his home Poland nine times each.

In 1979, during his first papal visit to Poland, John Paul made a landmark speech which was interpreted as a call to oppose the communist government. The following year, Solidarity (Solidarnosc), the communist bloc's first free trade union, was born.

Against the backdrop of the collapse of the communist bloc, he visited Eastern Europe more than any other pope. He also paid many visits to Africa and Latin America, visiting Mexico five times, Guatemala four, and Kenya and the Ivory Coast three times.