WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit the Vatican to discuss the Middle East peace process, poverty and humanitarian issues.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says Kerry will be in Rome on Tuesday to meet with the Holy See's Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

Kerry is the first Roman Catholic secretary of state since Edmund Muskie held the post from 1980 to 1981.

After Rome, Kerry will travel on to Kuwait for a donors' conference on the crisis in Syria.