What to know about Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Turkey and Lebanon, the first of his pontificate

Pope Leo XIV’s first foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon, will be rich in opportunities to advance relations with two of the Catholic Church’s top priorities: Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

It will also give history’s first American pope the opportunity to speak in broader terms about peace in the Middle East in languages ​​that most of the world can understand: he will speak exclusively in English during his stay in Turkey, and a combination of English and French in Lebanon, breaking with the Vatican’s traditional lingua franca, Italian.

Security will be tight, especially after Israel launched a strike in Beirut targeting Hezbollah just days before Leo’s arrival.

Here’s a look at some of the expected highlights from the November 27-December 27 meeting. 2nd visit to two countries that the late Pope Francis had intended to visit but was unable to visit due to his deteriorating health.

Turkey and Lebanon have received several popes, starting with Pope Paul VI, the first pontiff to travel abroad, a sign of their importance to the Holy See.

For the Vatican, Lebanon and its tradition of religious tolerance in the Middle East constitute a bulwark for the region’s Christians, especially after years of conflicts and wars that have shrunk Christian communities dating back to the time of the Apostles.

Turkey, for its part, is home to the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, and is therefore a crucial relationship to maintain in the centuries-old quest for Christian unity.

Turkey is a rare country which, with Leo’s visit, can boast of having been visited by the five popes of the modern globe-trotting papacy: Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979 during one of the first trips of his pontificate, Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francis in 2014.

Paul VI also visited Lebanon during a stopover en route to India in 1964, John Paul II visited Lebanon in 1997, and Benedict XVI in 2012, on the last foreign trip of his pontificate. Francis had tried to leave for years, but the country’s instability, and then Francis’ poor health, prevented a visit.

Leo’s main reason for going to Turkey as his first stop is to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.

Leo will pray with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at the site of the 325 AD gathering today in Iznik, northwest Turkey, and sign a joint declaration in 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.

The Rev. Paolo Pugliese, superior of Turkey’s Catholic Capuchin Friars, said commemorating the Council of Nicaea – which gave birth to the creed still recited by Christians today – would send a powerful message of unity.

“What better opportunity than Nicaea to rediscover our common identity,” he said.

Leo will also visit the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and chair an interfaith meeting in Istanbul and Beirut. Importantly, he will not visit the iconic Hagia Sophia monument in Istanbul as previous popes have done.

In July 2020, Turkey converted the Hagia Sophia – once one of Christianity’s most important historic cathedrals and a United Nations-designated World Heritage site – from a museum to a mosque, a move that drew widespread international criticism. At the time, Francis said he was “deeply saddened” by the decision.

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

Security should, however, be strengthened, as regional conflicts have not abated. Israel launched an airstrike on the Lebanese capital on Sunday, killing Hezbollah’s chief of staff and four others.

Leo said this week that such attacks were “always a concern”, but he called on everyone to continue dialogue and not violence.

Archbishop César Essayan, Beirut’s vicar apostolic for Latin-rite Catholics, said Lebanon was the safest place in the region that Leon could visit and a perfect place to talk about peace.

“He couldn’t go to Gaza. There’s no point going to Israel now. It’s too difficult in Syria. It’s the only country,” he said of Lebanon. “And this offers him the singularity and this vocation which will allow him to go with a very strong message (of peace) for the whole world.”

The highlight of the Lebanese visit will be on Leo’s last day, December 2, when he will spend 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.

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.

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

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