Pope Francis will speak with the astronauts on board the International Space Station via video link, in the second ever call of its kind made by the head of the Catholic Church.

Axar.az reports citing Sputnik that, Pope Francis is set to speak from the Vatican city with crewmembers of the 53rd mission on the space station. Currently, six astronauts are in space, including two Russians, three Americans and one Italian.

The Italian astronaut, Paolo Nespoli, is witnessing the second papal call to space in his career. in 2011, he was also aboard the ISS when Pope Benedict XVI phoned the space crew.