ISTANBUL and VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo told Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan that he aims to visit Turkey at the end of November, according to a readout of their meeting at the Vatican on Wednesday by the Turkish presidency.
The pope, who held an official meeting with the wife of President Tayyip Erdogan at the Vatican’s apostolic palace, told her that officials from Ankara and Vatican were working on the details of the visit, the presidency said in a statement.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the first lady’s statement.
Leo, elected on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis, has not yet announced any foreign trips.
Francis had been planning a trip to Turkey before his death to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of an early Church council with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Leo has been widely expected to take the trip in Francis’ stead.
Bartholomew previously told an Italian television station that he and Leo discussed the possibility of the new pope travelling to Turkey in late November.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Joshua McElwee; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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