U.S. Catholics Hope for 2015 Papal Visit Pope Francis may make his first trip as pope to the United States in September 2015 to attend the Roman Catholic Church's World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Popes traditionally attend these events, which have been held every three years since 1994. "We are planning as if Pope Francis will be with us and have no indication that he will not attend," said Kenneth A. Gavin, a spokesman for the archdiocese of Philadelphia. But he added that any reports that Francis would make the trip "are not official." There is speculation that Francis would stop in New York on that same trip to speak to the United Nations General Assembly, but Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese of New York, said the archdiocese had not heard anything from the Vatican. The last papal visit to the United States was in April 2008, when Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Washington and New York.