Rome  - Pope Benedict XVI was on Saturday en route to the Czech Republic for a three-day visit, his first as head of the Catholic Church.

The pontiff departed from the Ciampino airport in Rome on board an Alitalia Airbus bound for Prague, Italian media reported.

Having travelled to Africa and the Middle East, Benedict will be breaking new ground with his visit to the highly secular post- Communist country.

The pontiff's visit comes in a year that marks two decades since the fall of Communism in Europe. But distrust of organized religion remains deeply ingrained in the Czech Republic and relations between Church and state strained.

Around 3 million of the country's 10,5 million people are Catholic.

Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, speaking ahead of the visit, said the Pope aimed to offer encouragement to the Catholic faithful in the Czech Republic.

Benedict is due to meet President Vaclav Klaus in Prague. Politically sensitive issues such as the Czech Republic's yet to be approved treaty with the Vatican would however not officially be discussed during the papal visit, according to organizers. (dpa)