# Has the former Jorge Bergoglio aka Pope Francis visited the US before? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861 "2015-09-28T19:05:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/1 "2015-09-28T19:05:46Z")
He was a priest, Archbishop of Buenos Aires and then Cardinal. Enjoying a long life of experiences. Has their been anything reported if Jorge Bergoglio vacationed or traveled in the US prior to becoming Pope? Seems like the opportunity existed and isn’t Miami a popular vacation spot for people from Central America? I’ve wondered if he’s traveled the US before in a much more normal way. > **[Frequently Asked Questions: Priest holiday time.](https://www.catholicdoors.com/faq/qu743.htm)** > > A frequently asked question regarding > when a priest can take holidays. > [@](#): > > A. 1. The Catholic Church has a Canon Law regarding how much time a priest can take for holidays. It says: > > Can. 533 §2. “Unless there is a grave reason to the contrary, a pastor is permitted to be absent from the parish each year for vacation for at most one continuous or interrupted month; those days which the pastor spends once a year in spiritual retreat are not computed in the time of vacation. In order to be absent from the parish for more than a week, however, a pastor is bound to inform the local ordinary.” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/2 "2015-09-28T19:30:24Z")
the CNN coverage I watched of his arrival stated it was his first time ever visiting the US. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/3 "2015-09-28T19:37:27Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Seems like the opportunity existed and isn’t Miami a popular vacation spot for people from Central America? Bergoglio is from Argentina not Central America. And he was known for living an austere life when he was Archbishop, traveling by public transportation, cooking his own meals, and living in a modest house. I’ve also heard that he doesn’t enjoy traveling. So I think it’s highly unlikely he ever took an vacations in Miami or anywhere else in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/4 "2015-09-28T20:09:12Z")
Every news source I’ve seen says this is his first visit to the U.S. While the news is sometimes wrong, it’s kind of a major point - if there were evidence to the contrary, someone would have brought it up by now. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/5 "2015-09-28T20:14:29Z")
OK. I hadn’t followed the live coverage that closely. thank you for clearing that up. So theres no photos of Bergoglio wearing sunscreen on the beach. 😉 I’ve heard priests on vacation often wear normal clothes and act like anyone else. Relaxing and unwinding from a stressful job but still observing their vows. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/6 "2015-09-28T20:24:00Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > OK. I hadn’t followed the live coverage that closely. > > thank you for clearing that up. So theres no photos of Bergoglio wearing sunscreen on the beach. 😉 I’ve heard priests on vacation often wear normal clothes and act like anyone else. Relaxing and unwinding from a stressful job but still observing their vows. Yes. I remember seeing pictures of Karol Wojtyła, before he was Pope, skiing, in ordinary ski clothes. Not sure if he was a bishop, or an archbishop, or a cardinal, yet. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/7 "2015-09-28T20:32:13Z")
I have seen several reports saying that this was his first visit to the US “since becoming pontiff”, which suggests he may have visited at some earlier time. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/8 "2015-09-28T20:56:07Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I have seen several reports saying that this was his first visit to the US “since becoming pontiff”, which suggests he may have visited at some earlier time. Yes, that’s the odd phrasing I’ve heard too. Which is the basis for this GQ question. But if he had visited before why not just say so? A lot of details about Bergoglio’s prior life have been reported. But there’s understandably a lot that is still kept private. I think it would be wonderful if there was a pope that had traveled in the US. That actually experienced our culture and knew people here. Rather than just waving at us from the Popemobile. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/9 "2015-09-28T21:12:39Z")
Bergoglio served as titular head of the Argentine Jesuit order for most of the 70s. It would be surprising if he didn’t visit the US at least once during that period given that there are so many Jesuits here. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Seems like the opportunity existed and isn’t Miami a popular vacation spot for people from Central America? Central American visitors are apparently [not](http://global.miamiandbeaches.com/pictures/webrpt/annual%20report%202010.pdf) a substantial portion of Miami’s overseas tourism market (though Costa Rica is the #10 point of origin). It’s a very popular destination for Argentinians though. ETA: What difference does it make if he had “experienced our culture”? There are 196 countries in the world. You can’t expect popes to have visited all of them in their earlier lives. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/10 "2015-09-28T21:20:20Z")
The US has a substantial Catholic population. Yet, the Pope’s I’m familiar with never really traveled or got to know our country and people. That opportunity realistically only exists before they attain high office. Jorge Bergoglio could anonymously walk the streets of New York. LA, and Miami. Pope Francis can never enjoy that luxury. He’s even commented that he misses the simple pleasures of just going out to dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/11 "2015-09-28T21:29:30Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The US has a substantial Catholic population. Yet, the Pope’s I’m familiar with never really traveled or got to know our country and people. That opportunity realistically only exists before they attain high office. Jorge Bergoglio could anonymously walk the streets of New York. LA, and Miami. Pope Francis can never enjoy that luxury. He’s even commented that he misses the simple pleasures of just going out to dinner. It’s not the pope’s job to get to know the United States and its people. He serves a Church that believes in universal truths and considers itself to have a single global congregation. Neither nationality nor culture is particularly important in the Catholic grand scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/12 "2015-09-28T21:51:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The US has a substantial Catholic population. Yet, the Pope’s I’m familiar with never really traveled or got to know our country and people. That opportunity realistically only exists before they attain high office. Jorge Bergoglio could anonymously walk the streets of New York. LA, and Miami. Pope Francis can never enjoy that luxury. He’s even commented that he misses the simple pleasures of just going out to dinner. 1. The Pope doesn’t know he’s going to be Pope in the years leading up to the appointment. He had responsibilities in his home country, and probably never seriously considered he would someday have a need to know more about American Catholics. 2. I’m not sure it would make much of a difference if he did "get to know American Catholics. What would he do differently? 3. Only 20% or so of Americans are Catholic, and I bet many of those are not really very Catholic. I think there are many other countries in the world where the future Pope would find a more “substantial” population of his religion. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/13 "2015-09-28T22:22:34Z")
We made quite an impression. > **[What Pope Francis Thought of the United States](https://time.com/4051727/pope-francis-papal-plane/)** > > "I don’t judge someone who can’t forgive." > [@](#): > > Each U.S. city was different, the pontiff said, but the warmth of the country made an impression during his first-ever visit. Washington was very welcoming, but “more formal.” New York, was “stralimitate,” an Italian-Spanish mash-up that evokes overwhelming, exuberant, beyond the limits. Philadelphia was “very demonstrative.” Overall, Pope Francis said he was struck by the piety of the American people. “The church’s challenge is staying close to the people … not being a detached church,” he said. “This is something that the church in America has understood and understood well.” > [@](#): > > The popularity of American nuns also made an impression on him. An important person within the U.S. government, Francis said, said that his or her education was owed “above all” to the sisters. Women priests were still not a possibility, Francis reiterated, but not because women don’t have the capacity. “The people of the United States love the sisters,” Francis said, smiling. “I don’t know how much they may love the priests, but they love the sisters, they love them so much. They are great women.” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/14 "2015-09-29T02:44:58Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Central American visitors are apparently [not](http://global.miamiandbeaches.com/pictures/webrpt/annual%20report%202010.pdf) a substantial portion of Miami’s overseas tourism market (though Costa Rica is the #10 point of origin). It’s a very popular destination for Argentinians though. A lot of the Central American visitors do not go there for the beaches and pretty places sort of tourism so much as on shopping trips. My Costa Rican clients got all electronics and any expensive mechanical, electrical or plumbing components from Miami; I’ve seen schoolteachers from Venezuela dragging two shopping carts’ worth of notebooks and other supplies. Also, a lot of people go on other business but call it tourism because it makes navigating Customs easier. It’s highly likely that Bergoglio would at least have changed flights in Miami or Dallas, but it’s also perfectly possible that he’d never set foot in the US outside an airport before this visit. We do know he had never been assigned there: visits would have been short ones. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-former-jorge-bergoglio-aka-pope-francis-visited-the-us-before/732861/15 "2015-09-29T05:12:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve heard priests on vacation often wear normal clothes and act like anyone else. Bergoglio apparently usually wore a modern priest’s black suit with a clerical collar when he was out in the public. [![](https://i.huffpost.com/gen/1037244/thumbs/o-POPE-FRANCIS-570.jpg?1) ](https://i.huffpost.com/gen/1037244/thumbs/o-POPE-FRANCIS-570.jpg?1) [![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--2Ca3mE-CEc/UxJXnHpn-TI/AAAAAAAAAew/7YG6k20_h9I/s1600/ilpapasuibus-3.jpg) ](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--2Ca3mE-CEc/UxJXnHpn-TI/AAAAAAAAAew/7YG6k20_h9I/s1600/ilpapasuibus-3.jpg) [http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/\_new/130314-jorge-bergoglio-jsw.380;380;7;70;0.jpg](http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130314-jorge-bergoglio-jsw.380;380;7;70;0.jpg) [![](https://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j382/Ripk10/Francis/Bergoglio_0882_zps428f08d9.jpg) ](https://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j382/Ripk10/Francis/Bergoglio_0882_zps428f08d9.jpg) [http://www.uscatholic.org/sites/default/files/styles/section\_feature\_large/public/blog-images/papa%20francisco.jpg?itok=PgwsDPNR](http://www.uscatholic.org/sites/default/files/styles/section_feature_large/public/blog-images/papa%20francisco.jpg?itok=PgwsDPNR) [![](https://thecatholicspirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/francis_subway.jpg) ](https://thecatholicspirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/francis_subway.jpg) [http://wpmedia.o.canada.com/2013/03/35.jpg?w=660](http://wpmedia.o.canada.com/2013/03/35.jpg?w=660)