Pope Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first foreign trip : NPR

Pope Leo

Alessandra Tarantino/AP

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Alessandra Tarantino/AP

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo

Leo is completing a trip that Pope Francis had planned to make to mark a significant anniversary with the Orthodox Church in Türkiye. In Lebanon, he will attempt to support a long-suffering Christian community as well as Lebanese of all faiths who are still demanding justice following the 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Leo, who spent 12 years as superior of his Augustinian religious order and two decades as a missionary in Peru, says he loves to travel. And in recent weeks, he has demonstrated both diplomatic and linguistic dexterity in answering journalists’ questions on the fly.

The trip is being closely covered by the US media, with all major US networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox as well as CNN and the BBC – inside Leo’s travel group, following his speeches, homilies and prayers at a crucial moment in negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and maintain a ceasefire in Gaza.

Major stages of the Pope’s trip to Türkiye and Lebanon.

Kevin S. Vineys/AP

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Kevin S. Vineys/AP

Vatican correspondents as well as Lebanese and Turkish media complement the papal press corps of about 80 journalists, with a long waiting list of reporters who requested to board the papal plane but were denied a seat due to limited space.

“Anytime the pope travels, it’s a big deal,” said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, an associate professor of theology at Fordham University in New York.

But a U.S. pope making his first trip abroad is an even bigger deal, she said, especially in the saturated U.S. media ecosystem where Leo has emerged as something of a foil to the Trump administration and its crackdown on immigrants.

“He continues to be in the news here because of his engagement with one of the most important issues we face, which is migration,” said Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. For this reason, “I think this trip will once again draw attention to the peripheries and to the most vulnerable.”

Significantly, Leo plans to deliver all his remarks in Turkey in English, and in English and French in Lebanon, leaving aside the Vatican’s Italian lingua franca in favor of more widely understood languages.

All eyes will be on Leo’s press conference on December 2, when he returns to Rome. Those encounters led to many of Francis’ headline-grabbing jokes during his 12 years as pontificate, starting with his first in 2013 when he said “Who am I to judge” about an allegedly gay priest.

Leo was much more cautious and diplomatic than his predecessor. But “maybe he’ll do something crazy like, ‘Who am I to judge?'” Imperatori-Lee said.

An important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations

The main motivation for traveling to Türkiye, the first stage from November 27 to December 27. This second trip will mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of Christianity.

Leo will pray with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at the site of the 325 AD gathering – now Iznik – and sign a joint declaration as a visible sign of Christian unity.

The Eastern and Western Churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a division precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.

“We all understand that 1,000 years of division have inflicted a deep wound that cannot be easily healed,” Barthélemy recently told the respected Greek daily Kathimerini. “We have an obligation, however, to strive to heal this wound, to mend the wounds, to bridge the distances and to restore unity.”

A chance to talk about peace in the Middle East

The visit will also provide Leo with several opportunities to talk about regional tensions in general, Catholic-Muslim relations and the declining presence of Christians in the Middle East.

Clergy in the region say the Vatican’s strong support for Gaza’s Palestinians during the war against Israel, first under Francis and now Leo, has boosted the church’s credibility among ordinary Muslims.

“At a time when many Western powers were hesitant on the issue of Gaza, Francis – then Leo – was very strong. He did not go to Gaza but it seems he said everything he could say,” said the Rev. Paolo Pugliese, superior of Turkey’s Capuchin friars.

Regional conflicts, however, have not abated: Israel launched an airstrike on the Lebanese capital on Sunday, which killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff and four others.

Security should be strengthened

The strike has only heightened the security concerns that often accompany the pope’s travels. But organizers insisted Leo would be safe.

“This happened, but it does not affect the places or where the pope goes,” said Archbishop George Bacouni, archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut.

The Vatican said no additional security measures had been taken, although spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to say whether Leo’s cars and popemobiles were bulletproof.

Significantly, Leo will not travel to southern Lebanon, battered by last year’s war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and site of intensifying Israeli strikes in recent weeks. Christian groups in southern Lebanon have been pushing for the pope to visit the region and circulated a new petition this week.

At most, Leo could be disturbed in Beirut by Israeli drones flying overhead, organizers said.

A prayer at the site of the port explosion

The highlight of the Lebanese visit comes on Leo’s last day, December 2, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020.

The explosion ravaged the Lebanese capital, killing at least 218 people, injuring more than 6,000 and devastating large swaths of Beirut. Triggered when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in a warehouse, the explosion caused billions of dollars in damage.

Lebanese citizens have been furious at the explosion, which appears to be the result of government negligence, adding to an economic crisis caused by decades of corruption and financial crimes. But the investigation has repeatedly stalled and, five years later, no one responsible has been convicted.

The Lebanese hope that Leo will demand accountability from the Lebanese political class and insist that there can be no peace without truth and justice.

Such a call “could shake our various political leaders, because we continue to live under the pressure of a social crisis, an economic crisis, in a country where the various leaders hear neither the cry of the poor, nor the cry of the unfortunate, nor the cry of the citizens,” declared Mgr César Essayan, apostolic vicar of Beirut for Catholics of the Latin rite.

Another important moment will come when Leo meets young Lebanese people. He should address them words of encouragement, amid the decades of Lebanese fleeing abroad, while recognizing their disillusionment with the failures of adults.

“Many families feel like they are surviving day to day with very little visibility into the future,” said Marielle Boutros, Lebanon project coordinator for Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic charity. “So this visit by His Holiness is not just symbolic. It is a really concrete sign that Lebanon is not forgotten.”