Pope Leo XIV kicked off the first foreign trip of his papacy on Thursday, arriving in Muslim-majority Turkey for a visit aimed at showcasing his interest in dialogue with other faiths and cooperation with other Christian denominations.
During his four days in Turkey, Leo is scheduled to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; local Catholic clergy; and leaders of other Christian groups, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, head of the Eastern Orthodox church.
On Sunday, Leo is expected to fly to Lebanon, home to the Arab world’s largest Catholic community, to meet with church and government officials there.
Leo’s decision to begin his first trip abroad in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country with a tiny Catholic population, is a nod to Christian history that he hopes will signal his modern day message, Vatican officials have said.
On Friday, he will visit the site of the ancient city of Nicaea, now called Iznik, to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of a Christian gathering there that defined tenets of the faith. The resulting document, the Nicene Creed, is still followed by most modern Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians, regardless of their other theological differences.
It was a trip, Vatican officials have said, that Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, had hoped to make before falling ill. Leo became pope after Francis died in April.
The visit is a boon for Mr. Erdogan, who gets the honor of being the first head of state to receive the new pope. Their meeting in Ankara, the Turkish capital, is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, after Leo visits the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and its first president.
“As a good Muslim, I am very happy,” said Emre Oktem, a professor of international law at Galatasaray University in Istanbul. “As a Catholic pope, he comes and pays his first visit to a Muslim country — it is a sign of openness and interest in cooperation.”
Ben Hubbard is the Istanbul bureau chief, covering Turkey and the surrounding region.
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