Pope Leo XIV has chosen Turkiye and Lebanon as the destinations for his first trip abroad as pontiff.
The Vatican said on Tuesday that Leo, the first pope who hails from the United States, will travel to Turkiye from November 27-30, followed by Lebanon from November 30-December 2.
The choice of the two Muslim-majority destinations is viewed as symbolic and rich in meaning for both Christians and Muslims. Both countries are home to ancient Christian communities, and the late Pope Francis had hoped to visit them before his death.
Leo’s visit to Turkiye will come during the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council, held in what is now the Turkish city of Iznik.
He is expected to meet with Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians, for celebrations marking the council, which established key tenets of the Christian faith.
Reverend John Chryssavgis, an adviser to Bartholomew, called the visit “profoundly symbolical”.
“Pope Leo is doubtless seeking to express and affirm his identity as a Christian in a world of many different creeds, where all people, regardless of religion and race, are called to live together in mutual understanding,” Chryssavgis told the Reuters news agency.
In Lebanon, Leo plans to commemorate the 2020 Beirut port explosion that killed 200 people. The country of six million people has the largest ratio of Christians in the Middle East and is the only Arab nation with a Christian head of state, President Joseph Aoun.
The visit will offer Leo – elected to head The Holy See on May 8 – a platform to appeal for peace in the Middle East and address the plight of the region’s Christians.
Like his predecessor, Leo has repeatedly called for peace and dialogue in the region, including calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to end the “terror, destruction and death”.
On Sunday, he spoke optimistically about ongoing negotiations to end the war in Gaza, saying “significant steps” had been made and urging “all those in positions of responsibility to commit themselves to this path.”
Travelling abroad has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes seeking to meet local Catholics, spread the faith, and conduct international diplomacy.
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