Pope Leo begins first overseas trip with stops in Türkiye, Lebanon

Pope Leo XIV embarks on his first foreign trip on Thursday, roughly six months after his election as head of the Catholic Church.

The six-day journey begins in Türkiye and continues to Lebanon on Sunday, passing through two predominantly Muslim countries that host Christian minorities.

Leo is scheduled to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the capital Ankara on Thursday.

He will then travel to Istanbul, where his agenda includes meetings with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians.

A centerpiece of the Turkish visit is the commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in İznik, about a two-hour drive south of Istanbul. The modern-day site of ancient Nicaea has long prepared for this milestone.

İznik was the site of the 325 AD council that shaped core Christian doctrine. The pope is fulfilling a plan originally set for Pope Francis before his death in April, signaling "unity in faith."

He is scheduled to pray with other church leaders at the recently uncovered ruins of the fourth-century Basilica of St Neophytos.

The Turkish leg carries significant political weight as Leo will be engaging in talks with Eastern Orthodox churches. Unlike his predecessors, Leo will not visit the Hagia Sophia, which was reconverted from a museum into a mosque in 2020.

Leo will then head to Lebanon, where he intends to deliver a "message of peace in the Middle East."

Such a message comes amid renewed regional tensions, despite a year-long Hezbollah–Israel ceasefire. The pontiff is expected to return to the Vatican on December 2.