Francis will be first pope to visit Venice Biennale.

Pope Francis will travel to the Venice Art Biennale on 28 April to visit the Holy See pavilion at the women's prison on the island of Giudecca, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The full programme of the one-day visit will be released soon, however the pontiff is scheduled to visit members of the local church community, according to a statement from the Vatican's dicastery for culture and education and the Patriarchate of Venice.

Francis will be the first pope to visit the Venice Art Biennale which was established in the Italian canal city in 1895.

The last pope to visit Venice was Benedict XVI in 2011, with previous papal visits by John Paul II in 1985 and Paul VI in 1972, according to Vatican News.

Titled With My Eyes, the Holy See pavilion is dedicated to the theme of human rights and people living on the margins of society, with the aim of drawing attention to those who are routinely unnoticed or ignored.

The Holy See first participated in the Venice Art Biennale in 2013 with the Genesis-inspired pavilion entitled In the Beginning.

Curated by Adriano Pedrosa, the 60th edition of the International Art Biennale of Venice bears the title Stranieri Ovunque (Foreigners Everywhere) and takes place from 20 April until 24 November.

Cover image: Support by Lorenzo Quinn from the 2017 Venice Art Biennnale. Photo credit: Buffy1982 / Shutterstock.com.