During a one day visit to the former communist nation on September 21, the Pope said authentic religion is a source of peace.

"To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman," the Pope said.

The Pope then spoke about authentic religious freedom in a multi-faith setting such as Albania.

He told the faith leaders that "religious freedom is a spared space, an atmosphere of respect and co-operation that must be built with everyone's participation, even those who have no religious convictions".

The Pope went on to outline two attitudes that help in this area.

The first is to regard all people," not as rivals, less still enemies, but rather as brothers and sisters".

"When a person is secure of his or her own beliefs, there is no need to impose or put pressure on others: there is a conviction that truth has its own power of attraction."

The second attitude which fosters the promotion of religious freedom is the work done in service of the common good, the Pope said.

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Threats to kill the Pope by the terrorist Islamic State were revealed by Iraq's ambassador to the Holy See in an interview in an Italian newspaper on Tuesday.

But Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, said there was "nothing serious" in the threats and that "this news has no foundation".

"There is no particular concern in the Vatican," he said.

Fr Lombardi confirmed that the Pope would travel in the same open-top car he uses in St Peter's Square in Rome while he is in Albania this weekend.

The Pope said he decided to visit Albania because "it has suffered greatly as a result of a terrible atheist regime and is now realising the peaceful co-existence of its various religious components".

Pope Francis' trip to Albania will be his first to a Muslim-majority country.

His second, to Turkey, is expected to take place at the end of November.

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