List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II's first foreign journey was a three-country visit to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the Bahamas in January 1979.

[5] This was possibly the most significant of all his trips as it, according to some historians, set in train a series of events that led to the establishment of the Solidarity trade union, which was a key movement in the fall of Communism in eastern Europe.

The following day, Sunday 30 September, included Masses in Galway (300,000), Knock (450,000) and a stop over at the monastic ruins of Clonmacnois (20,000).

On 3 June 1980, he made a pilgrimage to Lisieux in northern France, the home town of St. Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face.

He became the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom in 1982, where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

This trip was in danger of being cancelled due to the then current Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas/Guerra del Atlántico Sur), against which he spoke out during the visit.

Stands were specially erected for him at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, where he met with governor Carlos Romero Barceló, and at Plaza Las Americas.

Following that, the Pope made pastoral speeches concerning the Catholic doctrines in the National Stadium of Singapore, which was viewed by a large audience.

There was a plot to assassinate the Pope during his visit to Manila in January 1995, as part of Operation Bojinka, a mass terrorist attack that was developed by Al-Qaeda members Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

Before 15 January, the day on which the men were to attack the Pope during his Philippine visit, an apartment fire brought investigators led by Aida Fariscal to Yousef's laptop computer, which had terrorist plans on it, as well as clothes and items that suggested an assassination plot.

[19][20] On 19 September 1996, the Pope traveled to Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, France to meditate and pray st the adjacent tombs of Saint Louis de Montfort and Blessed Marie Louise Trichet.

[21] In 1999, John Paul II made a final trip to the United States, this time celebrating Mass in St. Louis in the Trans World Dome.

He also bemoaned the lack of any apology from the Roman Catholic Church, saying that "until now, there has not been heard a single request for pardon" for the "maniacal crusaders of the 13th century".

The Pope responded by saying, "For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us forgiveness", to which Christodoulos immediately applauded.

In September 2001 amid post-September 11 concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience of largely Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of the 1700 years of Christianity in that nation.