The pope and Bartholomew I met in İznik to celebrate the Council of AD 325, with representatives of the world's Churches. At the site of the Basilica of Saint Neophytos, the "confession of faith" is the foundation of "full communion." The thirst for reconciliation comes from “the whole of humanity afflicted by violence and conflict." This morning in Istanbul, Leo told Christians in Turkey that the “logic of littleness is the Church’s true strength.”

İznik (AsiaNews) – Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, met with Pope Francis at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 2014. On that occasion he told AsiaNews that the two had “agreed to leave as a legacy to ourselves and our successors a gathering in Nicaea in 2025”. Eleven years later, and 17 centuries after the First Ecumenical Council, the 267th pope, Leo XIV, met Bartholomew today in İznik, formerly known as Nicaea, to celebrate the synod convened by Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.

This papal visit is a legacy of his predecessor’s will, but also of the dialogue fostered by past pontiffs, especially Paul VI, who, by embracing Patriarch Athenagoras in 1964, broke a centuries-old divide, bringing the Christian East and West closer together.

Pope Leo XIV landed at the İznik heliport around 3:15 pm local time, welcomed by Bartholomew I. He then drove to Lake İznik, site of the Basilica of Saint Neophytos, named after a young Christian martyr killed in 303. The ruins of the three-nave church were found in 2014.

The ecumenical prayer meeting, with leaders and representatives of the world's Christian churches, provided a symbolic moment for Leo’s first apostolic journey.

In his welcoming address, Bartholomew I characterised the historic event as a “shared reverence and a common feeling of hope”.

Despite the "difficulties" that have marked the 1,700 years since that first ecumenical council, “We are here to bear living witness to the same faith expressed by the Fathers of Nicaea. We return to this wellspring of the Christian faith in order to move forward,” Bartholomew said.

For Leo, at a “tragic” time in which the “dignity” of people is often threatened, today's meeting was a “precious opportunity to ask ourselves who Jesus Christ is in the lives of men and women today, and who he is for each one of us personally.”

This question was the starting point for the pope’s eagerly awaited address, one that particularly challenges "Christians”, who are often tempted to reduce Jesus Christ to a "charismatic leader or superman," denying his divinity and "ignoring the reality of the Incarnation."

This was the case with Arius, a theologian whose movement was declared heretical at Nicaea in AD 325. Some 1,700 years ago, the Council of Nicaea gathered over 300 bishops who formulated a version of the Creed very close to the one still recited in the liturgy today, affirming that Jesus is “consubstantial with the Father”, contrary to what Arianism claimed.

“[I]f God did not become man, how can mortal creatures participate in his immortal life?” This question was "at stake" at Nicaea, and is "at stake" today, the pontiff said. The "Christological confession of faith" – God became man to make us participants in his "divine nature" – is the foundation of "full communion" among all Christian Churches, shared across the world, he added.

Leo quoted Augustine, a saint dear to him who said: “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one”. Thus, he urged the faithful “to overcome the scandal of the divisions that unfortunately still exist and to nurture the desire for unity” for which Jesus Christ prayed for, and gave up his life.

“Today, the whole of humanity afflicted by violence and conflict is crying out for reconciliation.” Indeed, “There is a universal fraternity of men and women regardless of ethnicity, nationality, religion or personal perspectives. Religions, by their very nature, are repositories of this truth and should encourage individuals, groups and peoples to recognize this and put it into practice,” the pope stressed.

“Furthermore, we must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism. Instead, the paths to follow are those of fraternal encounter, dialogue and cooperation,” Peter’s successor added.

Turkey is also a “holy land,” where “the Old and New Testaments embrace,” Leo XIV said this morning, meeting in prayer with a representation of the “little flock” of Catholics in the country.

In Istanbul, where he stayed overnight, Leo XIV met with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, to which Leo XIII donated a relic of Saint John Chrysostom in 1884.

He spoke about the "long history" of Christianity, with the first disciples journeying to Anatolia and Antioch, and the first eight ecumenical councils.

Addressing today's Christians, he admitted that, despite the "richness of this long history, [. . .] the Catholic Church has become numerically” small. Yet, he said to look at the numbers with an "evangelical vision”, one “enlightened by the Holy Spirit" to understand that God descended among humanity through the "way of littleness,” a "way" that "we are all called to bear witness”.

Just as the prophets and Jesus Christ did, affirming that "the Kingdom of God does not impose itself with displays of power”, so the “logic of littleness is the Church’s true strength,” Leo explained, since "true strength," he added, "does not lie in her resources and structures”, nor depends “on numbers, economic power, or social influence." It lies, instead, in the "power of the Holy Spirit."

In Rome Pope Francis also urged Christian communities towards the "path of littleness”. Without it, there is “no future,” he said in 2019 in a homily cited by Leo XIV.

The Church in Turkey is a “small community, yet fruitful like a seed and leaven of the kingdom” which "remains fruitful as the seed and leaven of the Kingdom,” encouraging a "spiritual attitude of confident hope”.

For Leo, the many young people who are approaching the Catholic Church, bringing "their questions and concerns,” are the "already clearly present" signs of this "hope”.

Hence, “I also encourage you to listen, to accompany young people,” he told those present, noting that they should also take care of those areas in Turkey where the Church is involved, most notably, “ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, transmitting the faith to the local population, and pastoral service to refugees and migrants.”

• vatican
• turkey
• leo xiv
• apostolic visit
• İznik
• Nicaea
• ecumenical council
• patriarch
• bartholomew I
• arianism