Pope Francis says he hopes to travel to Turkey next year to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.

Pope Francis said on Thursday he planned to visit Turkey's Iznik next year for the anniversary of the first council of the Christian Church, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The Council of Nicaea took place in the ancient city of Nicaea in 325 A.D. in the former Roman Empire, which is now the present-day city of İznik, in northwestern Turkey

Pope Francis announced plans to visit Turkey's Iznik next year to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. This significant event mediated key theological debates about Jesus's dual nature as both God and man in early Christianity.

The early centuries of Christianity were marked by debate about how Jesus could be both God and man, and the Church decided on the issue at the First Council of Nicaea in 325.