Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon on his first apostolic trip
The Vatican announced the visit for 27 November to 2 December. Together with Patriarch Bartholomew, Leo will commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which formulated the profession of faith that still unites Christians. The trip to Lebanon, which the late Francis wanted to visit, will take on particular significance given ongoing wars in the region. Cardinal Parolin speaks on the second anniversary of Hamas’s attacks on 7 October.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Leo XIV’s long-awaited first apostolic trip will take him to Turkey and Lebanon from 27 November to 2 December, carrying out what the late Pope Francis already had on his agenda.
The first stage is linked to an important ecumenical anniversary, i.e. the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which took place in the year AD 325 in what is now the Turkish city of İznik. It was here that the profession of faith in which all Christian Churches still recognise themselves was first elaborated.
“Accepting the invitation of the Head of State and Ecclesiastical Authorities of the country, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV will make an Apostolic Journey to Türkiye from 27 to 30 November 2025, which will include a pilgrimage to İznik on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea,” reads a statement released by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni.
“In response to the invitation of the Head of State and Ecclesiastical Authorities of Lebanon, the Holy Father subsequently will undertake an Apostolic Journey in that country from 30 November to 2 December 2025,” the press release went on to say.
Leo XIV’s first international apostolic journey takes on particular significance, especially considering the extremely delicate moment the Middle East is experiencing.
Lebanon is directly affected by the wounds of a war that has now ravaged the region for exactly two years, while the Turkish government is among those directly engaged in negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of the Israeli hostages currently held in Gaza.
The Holy Father will be the fifth pontiff to visit Turkey. The first was Paul VI in July 1967, on the historic pilgrimage that followed his embrace with Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem. After him came John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006, and Francis in 2014.
Like Leo’s, three of these visits fell on 30 November, the day when the Orthodox Church of Constantinople celebrates the feast of its patron saint, the Apostle Andrew.
Two other popes have also visited Lebanon: John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The first came in 1997, and referred to the country as a “message" for the entire Middle East given its diverse communities and faiths, now called to find new common ground. The second, who chose Lebanon for his final international apostolic journey in 2012, promulgated the apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente at the shrine of Harissa, the fruit of the special synod that the Church, with prophetic vision, had already dedicated to this troubled corner of the world in 2010.
Regarding the general context in which this trip is taking place, Vatican Secretary of State Card Piero Parolin gave a long, important interview carried by Vatican media, summarising the Holy See's position on the ongoing conflicts.
In it, the prelate notes that the Holy See is “calling for the immediate release of the hostages” and for an end to the “spiral of hatred and violence,” highlighting the "inhuman" consequences in Gaza of Israeli military action.
Addressing the international community, his reproach is that “It’s not enough to say that what is happening is unacceptable and then continue to allow it to happen”.
At the same time, the cardinal said he was "struck" by the large-scale participation in peace rallies, also noting that “anti-Semitism is a cancer that must be eradicated.”
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