The Vatican confirmed on Wednesday that Pope Francis would meet the military chief of Myanmar during his upcoming trip to the region.

Axar.az reports quoting Anadolu Agency.

Speaking in a press brief, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke also said the Myanmar church had urged the pope to not use the word "Rohingya," calling the description of the persecuted community "contested".

The spokesman, however, said the Rohingya term is not forbidden and the pope had used it before.

"Sad news has reached us of the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters, a religious minority," Francis had said during a Sunday speech in St. Peter’s Square in August.

The pope's visit to Myanmar will start on Monday; he will visit Bangladesh on Nov. 30, Cardinal Tagle said in a written statement on Tuesday.

He is also scheduled to meet the Rohingya community in Bangladesh on Dec. 1; his trip ends on Dec. 2, the spokesman said.