Vatican City, Jan 8, 2017 / 13:00 pm
In a new interview published Sunday, Pope Francis said that though his many papal trips are often very tiring, both from a physical and mental standpoint, the people he encounters and the testimonies he hears make all of it worthwhile.
"I always carry with me the faces, testimonials, images, experiences..." he said. "An unimaginable wealth, which always makes me say, it was worth it."
The Pope's comments on traveling were made in an interview with Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli of the newspaper La Stampa and the online outlet "Vatican Insider." The interview is part of his new book on the Pope's trips, coming out Jan. 10.
In the interview, the Pope explains that he doesn't really like to travel much, saying that when he was a bishop in Buenos Aires, he preferred to stay in the area of his archdiocese. "Honestly, no. I never liked to travel," he said. "And I would never have imagined doing so many trips..."