Pope Leo shares his 2026 travel plans – and he won’t be coming back home

Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, is not planning to visit the United States this year, a spokesperson for the Vatican told reporters.

Speculation about Leo taking a trip back home has been circulating for weeks – especially as the pontiff issues statements denouncing President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Senior Vatican officials even reportedly considered having the pope visit the U.S. around the United Nations General Assembly in September. But ultimately, officials decided against it.

“No trip to the U.S. is expected in 2026,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said, according to the Washington Post.

It’s unclear what the reason behind the decision was, but the upcoming midterm elections could have influenced it. Typically, the pope does not visit a country during an election year to avoid the appearance of partisanship.

Leo is also reportedly strategic about how the world views him as the first pope from the U.S. and wants to ensure he does not appear as though he prioritizes the states.

“He sees himself as someone who belongs to the world,” Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, told the Washington Post. “I doubted he would come in his first year. He wants to make sure people understand he serves the whole world.”

During his first public appearance, following the historic conclave last year, Leo spoke Spanish and Italian. His first visit outside of Vatican City was to Turkey and Lebanon in December.

There will be papal travel to Angola and Equatorial Guinea in Africa, as well as to the Canary Islands in Spain and to Peru in South America, where Leo served as a bishop.

The Independent has asked the Vatican for comment.

While Leo has no intentions of visiting the U.S. this year, he will likely remain engaged with events happening across the country – particularly those related to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

This past year, Leo has issued statements condemning the government’s treatment of immigrants, calling it “extremely disrespectful” and “inhuman.” He’s urged the administration to treat people with dignity and enact “meaningful” immigration reform rather than embark on a chaotic mass deportation operation.

Leo has also encouraged the president to maintain U.S. allyship with Europe and discouraged the president from using force in Venezuela.

While Leo is less vocal on immigration than his predecessor, Pope Francis, he made his opinions clear online before he was elected the current pope. Leo had reposted an opinion piece from the National Catholic Reporter, titled: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Some MAGA allies criticized Leo for his social media presence at the time, especially given Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019.