Pope on first time visit to Thailand, Japan

Pope Francis is due to set off on Tuesday evening for his first trip to Thailand and Japan.

After his three-day visit to Thailand, he is due to deliver a message against the use of nuclear weapons in the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the two cities during World War II, razing them and killing tens of thousands of people.

In Japan, the pontiff is also expected to meet survivors of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster that followed a powerful earthquake and tsunami.

Francis is only the second pope, after John Paul II, to visit the two Asian countries as Catholics are a tiny minority in both Buddhist countries.

Francis is scheduled to return to Rome on Nov. 26.