Pope John Paul II was the most travelled pontiff in history, clocking up more than 750,000 miles around the globe.
Despite concerns over his evidently declining health, the Pope continued to make official visits around the world in the final years of his life, often looking frail and exhausted.
According to the Vatican's official website, the Pontiff had travelled a total distance equivalent to more than 28 times the circumference of the Earth, or three times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Since the start of his pontificate in 1978, he has made up to 200 visits to about 130 countries and more than 600 cities outside Italy. He also completed more than 140 pastoral visits within Italy.
The Pope, who spoke eight languages, drew enormous crowds wherever he went during his papacy and made more than 2,300 speeches. Last June he travelled to Bern in Switzerland and in August he made his final trip outside Italy, a pilgrimage to Lourdes in France.
His last trip outside the Vatican was to the shrine at Loreto in Italy in September.
He visited Ireland in 1979 and Britain in 1982.
In September 2001 the Pope toured Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, when he urged Christians and Muslims to work together just days after the terrorist attacks in the United States.
In July 2002, he set off on his 97th foreign trip, starting in Canada for a week of festivities marking World Youth Day, which turned out to be the last time he was to leave Europe. Also included in his 11-day tour was a visit to Guatemala where the Pope canonised Pedro de San Jose Betancur, a 17th Spanish missionary who dedicated his life to helping the poor.
In Mexico, the final destination of his 13,000-mile round-trip, hundreds of thousands of people sang, cheered and sobbed along the streets to welcome him.
PA