Pope Francis told reporters he wants to have a dialogue with China under the condition that the Catholic Church can operate freely in China.

The pope told reporters the church "only asks to have freedom to do its work. No other conditions."

"The Holy See is open to all contacts," he said. "Because it has true esteem for the Chinese people."

The remarks were made to reporters as the Pope returned from a visit to South Korea. The Pope told the reporters he was part of history when his flight flew over Chinese airspace as he was heading to South Korea.

Traditionally, popes send telegrams of greetings to heads of state when they enter their airspace.

This flight, however, marked the first time a pope had flown over China, which severed relations with the Holy See in 1951 when the Communists took over. Beijing refused to let St. John Paul II's plane fly overhead when he last visited the Far East, a 1989 trip to South Korea.

The Aug. 14 flight, then, gave Francis a rare opportunity to reach out to Chinese President Xi Jinping, albeit from 35,000 feet.

Francis recalled he was in the cockpit chatting with the pilots when the plane was about 10 minutes out of Chinese airspace and it was time to request permission from the air traffic control tower to continue on.

"I was a witness to this," Francis marveled. "And then the pilot said, `And now the telegram goes out."'

After witnessing that, the pope returned to his seat and prayed.

"I prayed so much for the beautiful and noble Chinese people," he said.

He said he would love to visit China: "Absolutely. Tomorrow!"