Pope Leo visit two Muslim country and visiting start with Turkey:

Pope Leo during his visits to the two Muslim-majority nations, the pope is expected to call for peace amid ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and promote unity among Christian denominations long divided by history. The 70-year-old pontiff begins a packed three-day schedule in Turkiye on Thursday before traveling onward to Lebanon. His appearances will be closely observed as he delivers his first international addresses and visits several culturally sensitive and historically significant sites. Foreign travel has become a defining feature of the modern papacy, with popes drawing enormous global attention as they engage in diplomacy, deliver major policy speeches, and participate in large public gatherings that sometimes attract millions. Pope Leo’s decision to make Turkiye his first destination carries symbolic weight: the trip marks the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a landmark early church meeting that produced the Nicene Creed, a foundational declaration of Christian belief still used worldwide. Leo, the first pope from the United States, was elected in May to succeed the late Pope Francis. Though he was relatively unfamiliar to the international community before his election, he spent decades working as a missionary in Peru and later served in the Vatican after 2023. His predecessor, Francis, had originally planned visits to Turkiye and Lebanon but was unable to travel due to declining health. Pope Leo’s first stop in Turkiye is the capital, Ankara, where he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and deliver an address to political leaders. Afterward, he will travel to Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople, once the capital of the Roman Empire. Preparations are already underway at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, the city’s largest Catholic church, to welcome him. Leo becomes only the fifth pope to visit Turkiye, following Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. Istanbul is also home to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of roughly 260 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. Although the Catholic and Orthodox churches split during the East-West Schism in 1054, relations have improved significantly in recent decades. On Friday, Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew will travel together to Iznik—ancient Nicaea—about 140 kilometers southeast of Istanbul. There, they will commemorate the historic council that shaped central Christian doctrines. In an unusual break from tradition, Pope Leo is expected to deliver his speeches in English rather than Italian during this trip. On Sunday, he will depart for Lebanon, a religiously diverse country still struggling through a severe economic and political collapse that began in 2019. Lebanon continues to face near-daily Israeli strikes despite a ceasefire reached one year ago between Israel and Hezbollah. More than 330 Lebanese have been killed since the truce took effect. Most recently, Israel carried out an airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni stated on Monday that extensive security measures are being taken to ensure the pope’s safety during his time in Lebanon, though he declined to share further details.

NEWS