He said he will make his first trip to the Holy Land, visiting Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
The announcement came as some progress were reportedly made in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Pope Francis said the visit is to mark a historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I 50 years ago in 1964 in Jerusalem, the reports said. Pope Paul VI was the first pope since the ninth century to label the Eastern Churches as sister churches. He was the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 1963 to his death in 1978.
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