Pope Leo says he hopes to visit Turkey later this year

ROME (Reuters) -Pope Leo said on Thursday he hopes to travel to Turkey later this year for the 1,700th anniversary of a major Christian Church summit, in what would be the first foreign trip of his papacy.

The early centuries of Christianity were marked by a lively debate about how Jesus could be both God and man, and the Church decided on the issue at the First Council of Nicaea - now known as Iznik in Turkey - in 325.

"I hope to be able to meet you again, in a few months, to take part in the ecumenical commemoration of the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea," Pope Leo said in an audience with Orthodox and Catholic pilgrims from the United States.

The pilgrims visited Leo at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, before continuing their journey to Istanbul.

Earlier this month, the Turkish presidency said the pontiff had told Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan about his intention to visit her country.

Leo, elected on May 8 following the death of Pope Francis, has not yet embarked on any foreign travels.

Francis had been planning to go to Turkey to celebrate the anniversary of the Nicaea Council with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In May, after visiting Leo at the Vatican, Bartholomew told the Italian bishops' TV2000 broadcaster that a possible date for the pope's Turkish trip was November 30.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti and Alvise Armellini, Editing by William Maclean)