The Pope closed the video entrusting his visit to Mary's intercession and, as usual, asked for prayer, adding that he will be praying for the people of Chile and Peru.
Pope Francis is scheduled to land in Santiago just after 8 p.m. Jan. 15, and has no official events apart from the welcoming ceremony, after which he will head directly the apostolic nunciature.
The next day he'll meet with the country's authorities and diplomatic corps, and will have a private audience with Chilean president Michelle Bachelet before saying Mass. He'll then make a brief visit to a women's prison before meeting with Chile's priests, seminarians, religious, and bishops in the afternoon.
His last activity for the day will be a private visit to a shrine dedicated to St. Alberto Hurtado S.J., where he will meet with the country's Jesuit priests.
On Jan. 17 the Pope will head to Temuco, where he will say Mass and have lunch with around 10 people at the mother house for the Sisters of the Holy Cross order. He'll then head back to Santiago for a meeting with youth and a visit to the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
The next day, his final one in Chile, Francis will go to Iquique in the morning, where he will celebrate Mass and have lunch at the retreat house for the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. He'll then head directly to the Iquique airport, where he'll depart for Lima, Peru.
Francis will land in Lima the evening of Jan. 18, but has no official events scheduled. His first formal appointment will take place Jan. 19, when he travels to Puerto Maldonado to meet with people from the Amazon region.
After this audience, the Pope will meet with the civil population and make a brief visit to the "Little Prince Home," which houses some 40 at-risk children and youth. He'll then lunch with representatives of Amazon before returning to Lima, where he's scheduled to meet with Peru's authorities and diplomatic corps.
Though he typically meets with the country's authorities and diplomats as his first official engagement during international trips, Pope Francis has on occasion made exceptions.
His decision to meet with people from the Amazon first, then, is a sign of how important the region is to him, both for environmental reasons related to his 2015 encyclical Laudato si', as well as the fact that in 2019 he will be holding a Pan-Amazonian synod to address problems related to the area.
After his meeting with authorities, Pope Francis will hold a private meeting with Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who recently survived an impeachment vote over corruption charges, and will meet with the country's Jesuits.
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On Jan. 20, the Pope will head to Trujillo, where he will celebrate Mass and ride through the city's "Buenos Aires" neighborhood, one of the poorest areas in town. Francis will then visit the city's cathedral and afterward will meet with the country's priests, religious, and seminarians.
He will then head back to Lima, where he will start his final day in Peru, Jan. 21, praying the Liturgy of the Hours with a contemplative order before venerating the relics of several Peruvian saints in the city's cathedral.
The Pope will then meet with the country's bishops, pray the Angelus, and say Mass before heading back to Rome, where he is expected to arrive around 2:15 p.m. Jan. 22.
Francis, the Church's first Latin American Pope, has visited several countries in South and Central America, including Brazil in 2013, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay in 2015, Cuba and Mexico in 2016, and Colombia in 2017.
The last Pope to visit Chile and Peru was St. John Paul II, who made pastoral trips to Peru in 1985 and 1988, and to Chile in 1987.
Elise Harris was senior Rome correspondent for CNA from 2012 to 2018.