Pope Francis hints on Uganda visit

Pope Francis said Monday he hopes to visit Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay this year, as well as the Central African Republic and Uganda.

The 2015 trips, still in their planning stages and not confirmed, would come on top of his planned three-city visit to the United States in September.

Francis disclosed his travel plans during an in-flight news conference on the way home from the Philippines.

Francis said the proposed African trips would likely take place at the end of 2015 to avoid the rainy seasons.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, stressed that the travel plans were “provisional and that nothing has been decided.”