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 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. The city, now known as Iznik, is in western Anatolia, some 150 km (100 miles) southeast of Istanbul The pope had already expressed in June the desire to go on the trip and the spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, had said the two men would celebrate the important recurrence together but no official confirmation had been made yet.