Pope Francis, who travelled to almost 70 countries during his nearly 12 years as pontiff, could always attract an immense crowd, particularly among the poor, the oppressed and the overlooked.

Visiting the Philippines in 2015, he drew the biggest gathering in papal history when an estimated six to seven million people attended an open-air mass in a Manila park.

About 1.5 million attended a mass celebrated by the Pope in Ecuador later that year.

Pope Francis is welcomed in Dili, Timor-Leste, in September 2024.Credit: AP

In 2017, he was mobbed by crowds of tens of thousands when he visited Colombia to urge peace and reconciliation after the country’s years of struggle with the violent FARC dissident army.

But Australia was deemed a journey too far for the pontiff. He never visited.

Travel had long taken a toll on him: since he had part of a lung removed in 1957, when he was in his 20s, he suffered uncertain health.

Pope Francis watches traditional dancers performing at the Martyrs’ Stadium In Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, in February 2023.Credit: AP

The pope he replaced, Benedict XVI, chose to resign aged 85 in 2013 because he was suffering declining health, making him the first pontiff to voluntarily resign since Celestine V in 1294.

Francis chose to carry on until the end. He died on Monday, aged 88.

His international journeys could never equal those of Pope John Paul II, one of the most travelled leaders in world history. In his 26½ years as pope, John Paul II visited 129 countries – several repeatedly – on 104 trips. He visited Australia twice: for a multi-city tour in late 1986, and in January 1995 when he travelled to Sydney for the beatification of Mary McKillop.

Pope Benedict XVI visited Sydney in July 2008 for World Youth Day, delivering mass to a crowd of more than 400,000 people at Randwick Racecourse.

Pope Francis........

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