Pope Francis to travel to Mexico in 2016

Pope Francis will travel to Mexico in 2016, a Vatican spokesman said Tuesday, without specifying the trip's dates.

Federico Lombardi confirmed a Mexican Televisa television report that the Argentine pontiff will visit the country, where he will pray at the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world.

While the programme is not yet known, Francis is expected to travel to an area on the border with the United States where migrants try to illegally cross -- a gesture he is believed to have first considered during his recent America trip.

The pontiff said in an interview with Televisa in March that any visit to Mexico would have to be at least a week long.

Pope John Paul II travelled five times to Mexico during his 26-year papacy, and Benedict XVI went once in 2012.

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