Pope Francis will arrive in Turkey shortly for what is billed as a historic trip to help interfaith dialogue in the country.
At the start of the three-day tour, he is set to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, who has dominated Turkish politics for 12 years.
He then plans to visit Istanbul for a meeting with the head of the Orthodox Christian church.
This is only the fourth visit by a pope to Muslim-majority Turkey.
During his trip Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Istanbul’s Sultan Ahmed mosque, the 17th-Century place of worship popularly known as the Blue Mosque.
He is also due to sign a joint declaration with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians, on trying to bridge the divides between Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity, BBC informs.
