by Francis X. Rocca

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis is planning to visit Turkey “in the last days of November” but said the length of his trip and his agenda in the country have yet to be determined.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, made the announcement to reporters Sept. 12, noting that a formal invitation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had arrived at the Vatican earlier the same day.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, considered first among equals among Orthodox bishops, had already invited Pope Francis to visit Istanbul Nov. 30, feast of St. Andrew, patron saint of Constantinople.

As things now stand, the trip will be Pope Francis’ sixth outside of Italy since his election in March, 2013. He will visit Albania Sept. 21 and address the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Nov. 25.

Pope Francis will be the fourth pope to visit Turkey, after Pope Paul VI in 1967, St. John Paul II in 1979 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

Meanwhile, Father Lombardi said there are no plans to increase security for Pope Francis’ Sept. 21 trip to Albania despite new reports of a potential threat by Islamic militants.

“All of us are worried about what ISIS is doing,” Father Lombardi told journalists during a Vatican press briefing about the trip to the majority Muslim country.

“But if the question is whether we are going to arrange something special to protect the Pope, or to increase the level of protection, I must say: no, we are not doing anything special.”

He added that, while there was a general concern with regard to ISIS, there was no specific cause at this time to make alterations to the pope’s behavior or schedule for the trip.