Pope Leo heads to Turkiye, Lebanon in first foreign trip as Catholic leader

First American pope volition get successful the Turkish superior Ankara, wherever helium volition conscionable President Erdogan.

Pope Leo has embarked connected his archetypal overseas travel arsenic Catholic person with a sojourn to 2 Muslim-majority countries of Turkiye and Lebanon, wherever helium is expected to marque appeals for bid successful the Middle East, ravaged by conflicts, and impulse unity among long-divided Christian churches.

The pontiff, who has a crowded three-day itinerary successful Turkiye starting connected Thursday, earlier heading connected to Lebanon, volition beryllium intimately watched arsenic helium makes his archetypal speeches overseas and visits delicate taste sites.

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Foreign question has become a large portion of the modern papacy, with popes attracting planetary attraction arsenic they pb events with crowds sometimes successful the millions, springiness overseas argumentation speeches and behaviour planetary diplomacy.

Leo, 70, was scheduled to depart with his entourage from Rome’s Fiumicino airdrome astatine astir 06:40 GMT connected Thursday, and volition archetypal sojourn the Turkish capital, Ankara, wherever helium volition conscionable President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and code governmental leaders.

The archetypal pontiff from the United States has chosen Turkiye arsenic his archetypal overseas destination to people the 1,700th day of a landmark aboriginal religion assembly determination that produced the Nicene Creed, inactive utilized by astir of the world’s Christians today.

Leo was elected successful May by the world’s cardinals successful a conclave to win the precocious Pope Francis. A comparative chartless connected the satellite signifier earlier his election, Leo spent decades arsenic a missionary successful Peru and lone became a Vatican authoritative successful 2023.

Francis had been readying to sojourn Turkiye and Lebanon, but was incapable to spell due to the fact that of his worsening health.

After a little sojourn successful Ankara, Leo is besides scheduled to alert connected Thursday evening to Istanbul, which was besides antecedently known arsenic Constantinople, the superior of the Roman Empire.

#PapaLeoneXIV è successful partenza per la #Turchia #Türkiye, tappa del suo primo viaggio apostolico.
L'arrivo allo scalo romano di Fiumicino dove con un volo Ita Airways giungerà advertisement Ankara pic.twitter.com/yHd6oMWLkx

— Vatican News (@vaticannews_it) November 27, 2025

[Translation: Pope Leo to depart for Turkiye for his archetypal apostolic trip. He is seen arriving astatine Rome’s Fiumicino airport, from wherever helium volition instrumentality an Italian Airways formation to Ankara.]

In Istanbul, the city’s largest Catholic religion astatine St Anthony Padua Parish, preparations are nether mode to invited Leo, who is lone the 5th pope to sojourn Turkiye, aft Paul VI successful 1967, John Paul II successful 1979, Benedict XVI successful 2006 and Francis successful 2014.

Istanbul is the location of Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual person of the world’s 260 cardinal Orthodox Christians.

Orthodox and Catholic Christians divided successful the East-West Schism of 1054, but person mostly sought successful caller decades to physique person ties.

On Friday, Leo and Bartholomew volition question to Iznik, 140km (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul and erstwhile called Nicaea, wherever aboriginal churchmen formulated the Nicene Creed, which lays retired what stay the halfway beliefs of astir Christians today.

In a departure from mean signifier – popes usually talk Italian connected overseas trips – Leo is expected to talk English successful his speeches successful Turkiye.

On Sunday, Leo volition caput to religiously divers Lebanon, a federation that has been crushed by a devastating economical and governmental situation since 2019 and which has been the people of repeated bombings by Israel successful near-daily violations of a ceasefire with Hezbollah that was agreed 1 twelvemonth agone to extremity the war.

Israel has killed much than 330 Lebanese successful the past twelvemonth since the truce was brokered.

On Sunday, Israel killed the Hezbollah main of staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, successful an aerial onslaught connected the confederate suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said connected Monday that indispensable information precautions were being taken to guarantee the pope’s information successful Lebanon, but helium would not remark connected specifics.