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 Pope Paul VI: Trip to the Holy Land Scott 375-377 (1964) On January 4, 1964, Pope Paul VI embarked on a historic trip to the Holy Land. This voyage marked the first trip by a sitting pope outside Italy since 1809 and was also the first time a pope traveled by airplane. Pope Paul would earn the nickname the “Pilgrim Pope” and forever change the papacy, moving it into the modern age and out of Rome and the Vatican to the far-flung reaches of the world. From 1964, and over the next sixty years, every pope (except for Pope Paul I) has extended the legacy of Pope Paul VI with travels to virtually every corner of the globe. Prior to this, who would have envisioned a pope visiting Alaska (which Pope John Paul II did TWICE) or Mongolia (as Pope Francis did in 2023)? To commemorate the travels of the popes during this time, Vatican City has issued numerous stamps to memorialize their trips. Today’s email will provide a very brief review of papal travels and display just a few of the stamps issued to capture a glimpse of these pilgrimage voyages. 
 Papal Travels of Pope Paul VI: Scott 403 (1964), Scott 419 (1965) Scott 457 (1967), Scott 461 (1968) Pope Paul VI—from 1964 to 1970, Pope Paul made a total of nine pastoral trips to 20 countries and territories, becoming the first pope to not only travel extensively but also the first to visit all six populated continents. Some stamps commemorating his travels are shown above, and in most cases the stamps were issued either concurrent with or shortly after the trips depicted on the stamps. Although he would serve another eight years as pope, his 1970 trip to the Middle East, Far East and Oceania would be his last. 
 
  Papal Travels of Pope John Paul II: Scott C68 (1980), Scott 741 (1984), Scott C77 (1986) Scott 894 (1991), Scott 1000 (1995), Scott 1059 (1997) Scott 1167 (strip of 5) (2000) Pope John Paul II—the most traveled pope in history, Pope John Paul II made a total of 104 pilgrimage trips to an astounding 129 countries and territories. One of his first trips was perhaps his most memorable: his momentous return to Poland in 1979. Room does not permit a complete display of all the stamps depicting his travels. Unlike the stamps for Pope Paul VI travels, the Vatican Post Office began the practice of issuing the travel stamps of popes the year following their voyages, starting with the 1979 travel stamps of Pope John Paul II being issued in 1980. In addition, the travel stamps of Pope John Paul II dominated the last airmail stamps issued by Vatican City from 1980 to 1992. 
 Papal Travels of Pope Benedict XVI: Scott 1331 (2006), Scott 1367 (2007) Scott 1390 (2008), Scott 1420 (2009) Pope Benedict XVI—although not as well-traveled as Pope John Paul II, Benedict continued the tradition of venturing around the world during his eight-year papacy. His first trip as Pope featured a return to his native Germany, when he traveled to attend World Youth Day in Cologne in August of 2005. He made 25 trips outside of Italy to 29 territories and countries during his pontificate. 
 
 Papal Travels of Pope Francis: Scott 1579 (2014), Scott 1664 (2017), Scott 1723 (2019) Scott 1634 (2016), Scott 1753 (2020), Scott 1781 (2021) Pope Francis—being the first pope from the New World and South America (being a native of Argentina), Pope Francis’s first trip was a return to that continent to the country of Brazil in July of 2013. It is interesting that, to date, the pope has not traveled to Argentina, since he has certainly been well traveled during his pontificate (a total of 49 trips to 75 countries and territories). His latest trip was to the French island of Corsica in December of 2024. The Vatican Post Office initiated some changes in its stamps to document the travels of Pope Francis. In some years, it has issued individual stamps for each trip, while in other years it has issued either a minisheet or souvenir sheet listing all countries visited. In 2021, the “Papal Travels” stamp did not feature international travel for 2020 since the pope’s only trip was to Bari, Italy, on February 23, just prior to the curtailment of travel due to the COVID pandemic. In addition to all the stamps issued that are tied to the travels of the popes over the last sixty years, the Vatican collector can find voluminous material in the form of first day covers, event covers, post cards, and associated postal history items to create an expansive subsection to one’s collection. REFERENCES: |
