First American pope will arrive within the Turkish capital Ankara, the place he’ll meet President Erdogan.
Pope Leo has launched into his first overseas journey as Catholic chief with a go to to 2 Muslim-majority international locations of Turkiye and Lebanon, the place he’s anticipated to make appeals for peace within the Center East, ravaged by conflicts, and urge unity amongst long-divided Christian church buildings.
The pontiff, who has a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkiye beginning on Thursday, earlier than heading on to Lebanon, will probably be carefully watched as he makes his first speeches abroad and visits delicate cultural websites.
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International journey has develop into a significant a part of the fashionable papacy, with popes attracting worldwide consideration as they lead occasions with crowds generally within the hundreds of thousands, give overseas coverage speeches and conduct worldwide diplomacy.
Leo, 70, was scheduled to depart along with his entourage from Rome’s Fiumicino airport at about 06:40 GMT on Thursday, and can first go to the Turkish capital, Ankara, the place he’ll meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and tackle political leaders.
The primary pontiff from america has chosen Turkiye as his first abroad vacation spot to mark the 1,700th anniversary of a landmark early church council there that produced the Nicene Creed, nonetheless utilized by a lot of the world’s Christians right now.
Leo was elected in Might by the world’s cardinals in a conclave to succeed the late Pope Francis. A relative unknown on the world stage earlier than his election, Leo spent many years as a missionary in Peru and solely turned a Vatican official in 2023.
Francis had been planning to go to Turkiye and Lebanon, however was unable to go due to his worsening well being.
After a short go to in Ankara, Leo can also be scheduled to fly on Thursday night to Istanbul, which was additionally beforehand often known as Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire.
#PapaLeoneXIV è in 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 advert Ankara pic.twitter.com/yHd6oMWLkx— Vatican Information (@vaticannews_it) November 27, 2025
[Translation: Pope Leo to depart for Turkiye for his first apostolic trip. He is seen arriving at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, from where he will take an Italian Airways flight to Ankara.]
In Istanbul, town’s largest Catholic church at St Anthony Padua Parish, preparations are below approach to welcome Leo, who is simply the fifth pope to go to Turkiye, after Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francis in 2014.
Istanbul is the house of Patriarch Bartholomew, non secular chief of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.
Orthodox and Catholic Christians break up within the East-West Schism of 1054, however have usually sought in current many years to construct nearer ties.
On Friday, Leo and Bartholomew will journey to Iznik, 140km (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul and as soon as referred to as Nicaea, the place early churchmen formulated the Nicene Creed, which lays out what stay the core beliefs of most Christians right now.
In a departure from regular follow – popes normally converse Italian on overseas journeys – Leo is anticipated to talk English in his speeches in Turkiye.
On Sunday, Leo will head to religiously various Lebanon, a nation that has been crushed by a devastating financial and political disaster since 2019 and which has been the goal of repeated bombings by Israel in near-daily violations of a ceasefire with Hezbollah that was agreed one yr in the past to finish the warfare.
Israel has killed greater than 330 Lebanese within the final yr because the truce was brokered.
On Sunday, Israel killed the Hezbollah chief of workers, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, in an air strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni mentioned on Monday that obligatory safety precautions have been being taken to make sure the pope’s security in Lebanon, however he wouldn’t touch upon specifics.
