The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will visit the Italian city of Caserta later this month.
In an unannounced briefing in the Vatican Press Office this afternoon, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, announced the Pope will be making a “private visit” to this city in the Campania region of Italy.
Though its details and logistics are still being determined, the foreseen date of the visit is July 26.
The spokesman stressed the visit will be “extremely fast and simple, in the course of a single morning,” and will likely include a visit to the city’s church.
Caserta has a population of some 80,000 people, mostly Catholic, and is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city.
Last month, when Francis met with a group of evangelical pastors in Rome a pastor friend he “had already known well from his time in Buenos Aires” extended the invitation.
Upon “Francis receiving the invitation from the pastor,” the spokesman explained, Francis agreed.
He stressed that the Holy Father prefers the visit to be more of a “private” visit, rather than “public, with celebrations for the city.”
