The parents of the missing four-year-old British girl, Madeleine McCann, will travel to Rome from Portugal this afternoon.
Tomorrow, they will meet Pope Benedict during a general audience at the Vatican.
Kate and Gerry McCann will leave the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz where their daughter was abducted 26 days ago.
It is the first time that Mrs McCann has left Portugal since her daughter's disappearance.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple were looking forward to meeting the Pope.
As police continue hunting for her abductor, specialists have been brought in from the UK.
Techniques used in the Soham case to find 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman as well as their killer Ian Huntley are being employed in the Algarve.
Telephone experts are using triangulation points to try to pinpoint all the calls made in the Ocean Club resort on the evening of 3 May, when Madeleine was taken.
A suspected sighting in Morocco has been ruled out by Interpol after officers re-interviewed the woman who claimed to have seen a little girl similar to Madeleine at a petrol station.
But a small contingent of officers from Leicestershire police is still in the north African country.
