Pope Francis said Friday that he plans to visit Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country.

In off-the-cuff remarks to employees of the Italian airline company that staffs the papal plane for his international trips, the pope said that he will travel to Mongolia after his scheduled trips to Hungary and France in the coming months. “In two weeks’ time, God willing, I will leave for my 41st pilgrimage, by going to visit Hungary. And then there will be Marseille, then Mongolia,” Francis said at a Vatican audience with ITA Airways on April 14.

An apostolic journey to Mongolia would make Pope Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner. Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.

Last year, Pope Francis named an Italian who had served as a missionary in Mongolia for nearly 20 years as the world’s youngest cardinal. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, 48, is the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which serves the entire country.

Pope Francis first spoke about the possibility of traveling to Mongolia in February during an in-flight press conference on his return trip from South Sudan. He told reporters at the time that “there is a possibility from Marseille to fly to Mongolia.”