Swiss government: Pope Francis to visit Geneva this summer


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GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss government spokesman says Pope Francis will visit Geneva in June.

Federal Council spokesman Andre Simonazzi says details of the June 21 visit are being worked out, adding only that President Alain Berset would welcome Francis.

St. John Paul II was the last pope to visit Switzerland, in 2004, one of his last trips.

Journalist Raphael Zbinden of Cath-info, an official media portal for the Catholic church in Switzerland, said Pope Francis' visit was timed for the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, which is based in Geneva.

Spokeswoman Marianne Ejdersten of the WCC, which counts 348 member churches in 110 countries — but not the Roman Catholic church — said Wednesday its general-secretary, Olav Fykse Tveit, would attend a news conference Friday at the Vatican.

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