Pope Leo XIV will make his first international trip by visiting Turkey and Lebanon where he is expected to focus on peace in the Middle East, meet political leaders and show his support to Christians in the region,
CNN reports.
The first American pope will travel to Turkey from November 27-30 and then go to Lebanon from November 30 until December 2. While in Turkey, the pope will mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, an important church gathering which articulated Christian beliefs. The “Nicene creed” is still recited in churches across the world today. The Vatican said Leo will travel to the town of Iznik, modern day Nicaea, for the anniversary and while in Turkey is expected to meet Ecumenical Patriarch Batholomew, the spiritual leader of the approximately 300 million Eastern orthodox Christians.
Leo, speaking to reporters in Castel Gandolfo, said his trip to Lebanon would be an opportunity to bring “a message of peace in the Middle East in a country that has suffered so much,” and that he would seek to emphasise “peace and hope” while in the country.
The pope was talking to reporters outside the Villa Barberini, where he stays on his visits to the Vatican estate at Castel Gandolfo, a town approximately 16 miles southeast of Rome.
His trip to Turkey, Leo explained, is focussed on marking the Council of Nicaea anniversary and will be “a moment of authentic unity in faith” for all Christians. “We must not miss this historic moment,” he said. “But it is not to look back, it is to look forward.”
The Vatican said Leo was invited to visit Turkey and Lebanon by both civil and church leaders of both countries. Both are places Pope Francis had planned to visit before his health problems. The president of Lebanon Joseph Aoun, a Maronite Christian, invited Leo to visit the country when he met the pope in the Vatican in June. Lebanon is home to a significant Christian community, of which the Maronites are the largest, and the Vatican has paid close attention to the country’s political difficulties. In August, Leo sent a message for a service commemorating the 200 killed in the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and it’s expected that he will commemorate the victims while in Lebanon.
