Pope Francis’ trip to the DRC is the first papal visit since John Paul II travelled there in 1985.

Pope Francis is visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan this week. The 86-year-old leader of the Catholic church will start his trip on Tuesday in the Congolese capital Kinshasa before heading to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on Friday. The Vatican’s envoy to the DRC, where Catholics make up about half of the population, has said the trip will remind the world not to ignore decades-long conflicts there. An estimated 5.7 million people are internally displaced in the DRC and 26 million face severe hunger, largely because of the impact of armed conflict by multiple rebel groups, according to the United Nations. (Al Jazeera) The trip will be Francis’s 40th abroad since he was elected supreme pontiff in 2013 following the resignation of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI. Over the course of these trips, the pope has visited 59 countries. Pope Francis’ trip to the DRC is the first visit by a pope since John Paul II travelled there in 1985 – it was still known as Zaire at the time. The DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and has a population of some 90 million people. The Church runs about 40 percent of the country’s health facilities and about 6 million children are taught in Catholic schools. The countries the pope has visited include: Americas Brazil: July 2013 Bolivia: July 2015 Ecuador: July 2015 Paraguay: July 2015 United States: September 2015 Cuba: September 2015, February 2016 Mexico: February 2016 Colombia: September 2017 Chile: January 2018 Peru: January 2018 Panama: January 2019 Canada: July 2022 Pope Francis waves to people from his popemobile in the Varginha slum, part of the Manguinhos slum complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 25, 2013. Asia South Korea: August 2014 Sri Lanka: January 2015 Philippines: January 2015 Armenia: June 2016 Georgia: September 2016 Azerbaijan: October 2016 Myanmar: November 2017 Bangladesh: November 2017 Thailand: November 2019 Japan: November 2019 Kazakhstan: September 2022 Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at Yangon International Airport, Myanmar November 27, 2017. [Max Rossi / REUTERS] Africa Kenya: November 2015 Uganda: November 2015 Central African Republic: November 2015 Egypt: April 2017 Morocco: March 2019 Mozambique: September 2019 Madagascar: September 2019 Mauritius: September 2019 Democratic Republic of Congo: January 2023 South Sudan: February 2023 (planned) Pope Francis, centre-left, walks out in a procession after leading a Holy Mass for the Martyrs of Uganda at the Catholic Sanctuary in Namugongo, Kampala, Uganda, November 28, 2015 [Ben Curtis / AP Photo] Europe Albania: September 2014 France: November 2014 Turkey: November 2014 Bosnia and Herzegovina: June 2015 Greece: April 2016 Poland: July 2016 Sweden: October 2016 Portugal: May 2017 Switzerland: June 2018 Ireland: August 2018 Estonia: September 2018 Latvia: September 2018 Lithuania: September 2018 Bulgaria: May 2019 North Macedonia: May 2019 Romania: May 2019 Hungary: September 2021 Slovakia: September 2021 Cyprus: December 2021 Greece: December 2021 Malta: April 2022 Pope Francis speaks in the Ambassadors’ Chamber of the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta, Malta, on April 2, 2022 [Remo Casilli / REUTERS] Middle East Israel: May 2014 Jordan: May 2014 Palestine: May 2014 United Arab Emirates: February 2019 Iraq: March 2019 Bahrain: November 2022 Pope Francis laughs with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at the Sakhir Palace during his apostolic journey, south of Manama, Bahrain, November 3, 2022 [Yara Nardi/Reuters]