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Thursday, November 27, 2025
Pope Leo heading to Turkey, Lebanon for closely watched first overseas trip
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Pope Leo XIV begins his first trip outside Italy as Catholic leader today with a visit to Turkey, where he is expected to make appeals for peace in the Middle East and urge unity among long-divided Christian churches.
The first American-born pope chose mainly Muslim Turkey as his first overseas destination to mark the 1,700th anniversary of a landmark early Church council there that produced the Nicene Creed, a statement of belief still used by most of the world’s Christians today.
Leo has a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkey before heading on to Lebanon.
Israel’s yearlong ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon has appeared increasingly fragile after the IDF killed the terror group’s military chief this week. Israel’s relations with Turkey, meanwhile, collapsed during the war in Gaza.
Leo will be closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and visits sensitive cultural sites.
“It’s a very important trip because we do not know much yet about Leo’s geopolitical views, and this is the first big chance for him to make them clear,” Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who follows the Vatican, tells Reuters.
Peace is expected to be a key theme of the pope’s visit to Lebanon, which starts on Sunday. Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Monday that necessary security precautions were being taken to ensure the pope’s safety in Lebanon, but he would not comment on specifics.
The Times of Israel Community.