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As pope, Francis strove to reach out to the 'periphery' of the world

Pope Francis on a visit to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, in September 2015.
Sven Creutzmann
/
Mambo Photo/Getty Images
Pope Francis on a visit to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, in September 2015.

Before becoming pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio had traveled very little.

As Pope Francis, he became a global player, preferring to visit what he called the "periphery" of the world, in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

His travels included visits to Myanmar, Bangladesh, Japan, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Uganda, Madagascar, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Ecuador, Chile and Cuba, among other countries.

He helped restore relations between the U.S. and Cuba during the Obama administration.

And his watchwords were "encounter," "dialogue," "reconciliation" and "build bridges, not walls."

Interfaith dialogue was one of the pillars of his papacy — he forged closer ties with the Orthodox Church, Protestants and Muslims, and he continued the Vatican's good relations with Jews set forth by St. John Paul II.

Francis had no qualms about delivering overtly political messages.

Accepting a prestigious European prize in 2016, he sharply scolded the European Union for its treatment of migrants and fraying sense of unity.

"I dream of a Europe where being a migrant is not a crime. ... I dream of a Europe that promotes and protects the rights of everyone," he said.

Copyright 2025 NPR

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Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.