The Vatican yesterday confirmed Pope Leo XIV’s first papal trip will be to Türkiye and Lebanon at the end of November and beginning of December, a trip that could have significant implications for his agenda on Gaza. Source: Crux.
In a statement yesterday, the Vatican announced that the Pope will make an Apostolic Journey to Türkiye from November 27-30, which will include a pilgrimage to İznik, formerly known as Nicaea, to commemorate 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea.
He will then travel to Lebanon from November 30 to December 2, though no details about what cities he will visit were announced. The full itinerary of the trip, the Vatican said, will be published “in due course”.
The visit to Türkiye was originally scheduled to be taken by Pope Francis in May.
In early centuries the Christian community was sharply divided over a debate about whether Jesus could be both fully human and fully divine. The matter was settled during the Council of Nicaea, held in what is now Iznik in 325.
Francis had planned Türkiye to celebrate the anniversary of the council alongside his longtime friend and interlocuter, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Pope Leo has spoken of the importance the trip would hold for the Church’s ecumenical relations, saying, “One of the deepest wounds in the life of the Church today is the fact that as Christians we’re divided.”
“I speak about building bridges; sometimes it’s easier to build bridges with people who aren’t Christian than it is with our Christian neighbours. There are things that separate us, there are things that keep us from all being united with authentic communion in what we believe,” the Pope said.
In this spirit, the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on ecumenism “has to be one of the goals of the Church today.”
His visit to Türkiye and Lebanon will also be his first official state visit as a world leader and will carry significant weight in terms of his geopolitical agenda in the Middle East, especially as regards the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
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Pope to visit Türkiye, Lebanon in late November/early December (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
