RALEIGH -- Former North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber II’s Thanksgiving holiday will include a trip to the Vatican.

Barber, who is a Protestant minister, will attend at a conference dedicated to labor and the workers' movement. He will also meet with Pope Francis Thursday.

Barber, who is known as the architect of the Moral Monday protest movement in North Carolina, stepped down as head of the state NAACP this fall to focus on his role as president of a new social justice organization called “Repairers of the Breach.”