This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Pope confirms he will visit New York, Philadelphia and Washington – but not California
Sorry - this page has been removed.
(2 months later)
Pope Francis said on Monday his US trip in September will be limited to Washington, New York and Philadelphia and he will not go to California to canonise Junípero Serra, the 18th-century Spanish Franciscan priest who founded missions there.
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason.
Francis listed those cities in answer to a question during an hour-long, freewheeling news conference with reporters on the plane returning to Rome at the end of a trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
In a surprise announcement last Thursday while flying between the two countries, Francis said he would canonise Serra during the US trip, stoking speculation the tour might include California.
For further information, please contact:
“I would like to go to California for the canonisation of Junípero, but I think there is the problem of time. It requires two more days,” he said.
Francis said the sainthood ceremony would take place in Washington at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Serra was born on the Spanish island of Mallorca in 1713, went to the Americas in the middle of the 18th century and led one of the first Franciscan missions in California. He arrived in San Diego in 1769 and spent most of the rest of his life there before dying at a mission in Carmel near Monterey in 1784.
