Pope Leo begins his first foreign visit with trips to Turkiye and Lebanon
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Pope Leo has begun his first international journey as the head of the Catholic Church, arriving in Turkiye before travelling to Lebanon later in the week.
His six-day trip to the two Muslim-majority nations is expected to include calls for peace in the Middle East and appeals for unity among long-divided Christian communities.
The pontiff’s schedule in Turkiye spans three days. He will make his first major overseas speeches and visit culturally sensitive sites. Foreign travel has long been central to the modern papacy, with popes drawing global attention through diplomatic engagements, policy remarks, and large public gatherings.
Leo, who is 70, landed in Ankara, where he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and address political leaders. The visit marks his first trip abroad since being elected in May by the College of Cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis. Before his election, Leo spent decades as a missionary in Peru and became a Vatican official only in 2023, making him relatively unknown internationally.
He chose Turkiye as his first destination to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the early church council held in Nicaea, which produced the Nicene Creed. The creed remains central to the beliefs of most Christians worldwide. Francis had originally planned to travel to Turkiye and Lebanon, but was unable to do so due to declining health.
In Istanbul, preparations are underway at St Anthony Padua Parish, the city’s largest Catholic church, to welcome Leo. He is only the fifth pope to visit Turkiye, following Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006, and Francis in 2014. Istanbul is also home to Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of 260 million Orthodox Christians. Although the Orthodox and Catholic churches split in 1054, they have worked in recent decades to strengthen ties.
On Friday, Leo and Bartholomew will travel to Iznik, formerly known as Nicaea, located 140km southeast of Istanbul. It was there that early church leaders formulated the Nicene Creed, which continues to define core Christian doctrine. In a break from usual papal practice, Leo is expected to deliver his speeches in English while in Turkiye.
The pope will travel to Lebanon on Sunday. The country has faced a severe economic and political collapse since 2019 and continues to suffer near-daily Israeli strikes that violate a year-old ceasefire with Hezbollah. Israel has killed more than 330 Lebanese in the past year. On Sunday, an Israeli air strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai.
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said on Monday that security measures are being taken to protect the pope during his time in Lebanon, but did not give further details.