Pope Leo meets Middle East Christian leaders, condemns religious violence

IZNIK — Pope Leo condemns violence in the name of religion at a landmark event with Christian leaders from across the Middle East, urging them during his first overseas trip as leader of the Catholic Church to overcome centuries of heated divisions.

At a celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of a major Church council with senior clerics from countries including Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Israel, Leo calls it a scandal that the world’s 2.6 billion Christians were not more united.

“Today, the whole of humanity, afflicted by violence and conflict, is crying out for reconciliation,” Leo says at a ceremony in the Turkish town of Iznik, once known as Nicaea, where early churchmen created the Nicene Creed still used by most Christians today.

“We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism,” says Leo, the first American pope. “The paths to follow are those of fraternal encounter, dialogue and cooperation.”

Today’s ceremony, at which the Church leaders pray in English, Greek and Arabic and light candles near the underwater ruins of a fourth-century basilica, is the main reason for Leo’s four-day visit to predominantly Muslim Turkey.