Pope to visit Turkey and Lebanon next month on first foreign trip

Pope Leo XIV waves from his popemobile astatine the extremity of a Mass for the Jubilee of Migrants and Missionaries successful St. Peter's Square astatine the Vatican, Sunday. [Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo]

Pope Leo XIV will visit Turkey and Lebanon adjacent period connected the archetypal overseas trip of his papacy, the Vatican has announced.

The trip offers a symbolically important motion to Christians and Muslims arsenic a pilgrimage to two countries that the pope’s predecessor, Francis, had planned to visit.

The Vatican said Leo will visit Turkey from November 27-30, and Lebanon from November 30 to December 2. The trip to Turkey will see a pilgrimage to Iznik to people the 1,700th day of the Council of Nicea, Christianity’s archetypal ecumenical council.

The day is an important infinitesimal successful Catholic-Orthodox relations, since the 325 A.D. Nicea gathering predates the schisms that divided Christianity’s East from West and is accepted by Catholic and Orthodox churches alike.

The pope is expected to conscionable successful Turkey with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual person of the world’s 260 cardinal Orthodox Christians, for celebrations of the Council of Nicea, which took spot successful Nicaea, present called Iznik.

Francis had planned to people it with his ain trip to Turkey successful May astatine the invitation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual person of the world’s Orthodox Christians. Francis died successful April, and Leo said from the start of his pontificate that helium intended to fulfill Francis’ plans.

“It is profoundly symbolical that Pope Leo … will visit [the patriarch] connected his archetypal authoritative journey,” Rev. John Chryssavgis, an advisor to Bartholomew, told Reuters.

“Pope Leo is doubtless seeking to explicit and affirm his individuality arsenic a Christian successful a world of galore antithetic creeds, where each people, careless of religion and race, are called to unrecorded together successful communal understanding,” said the priest.

The trip, announced connected the day of the October 7 Hamas attacks successful southern Israel, will springiness the archetypal American pope a accidental to speak successful wide terms astir bid successful the Middle East and the plight of Christians there.

Leo has consistently called for bid and dialog successful the Middle East, particularly arsenic Israel’s violative rages connected successful Gaza.

Francis had agelong hoped to visit Lebanon, but the country’s governmental and economical instability prevented a visit during his lifetime. The Mediterranean federation of astir 6 million, including much than 1 cardinal Syrian and Palestinian refugees, has the largest percent of Christians successful the Middle East and is the lone Arab state with a Christian caput of state.

However, the Vatican fears the country’s instability has been peculiarly unsafe for the continued beingness of its Christian community, a bulwark for the religion successful the Mideast.

Lebanon is presently struggling to retrieve aft years of economical situation and a bruising war betwixt Israel and the Lebanese militant radical Hezbollah that ended with a US and France-brokered ceasefire successful November. Formation of a new, reformist authorities ended a two-year governmental vacuum and brought hopes of betterment but the situation remains tense.

Israel has continued to inhabit 5 strategic points connected the Lebanese broadside of the borderline and transportation retired near-daily airstrikes that it says purpose to stop Hezbollah from regrouping. Hezbollah is under expanding home and planetary unit to springiness up its remaining arsenal but has refused to bash so until Israel withdraws and halts its strikes. There are fears of civilian struggle if Lebanese authorities effort to forcibly disarm the group.

‘A motion of unity for all’

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï, person of Lebanon’s Maronite Church, said Lebanon awaited the pope’s visit with “great joyousness and renewed hope.”

“We anticipation that this apostolic visit to Lebanon will bring bid and stability and beryllium a motion of unity for each Lebanese, Christians and Muslims alike, astatine this captious stage successful our nation’s history,” helium said successful a statement.

The past pope to visit Lebanon was Pope Benedict XVI successful September 2012 connected what was the past overseas trip of his papacy.

About one-third of Lebanon’s colonisation is believed to beryllium Christian, though there is nary authoritative fig since there hasn’t been an authoritative census since 1932. The Maronites are the largest and astir almighty sect and, by convention, Lebanon’s president is ever a Maronite Christian.

Tightrope implicit Mideast issues

The pope’s trip was announced arsenic Israel marked the day of the October 7 attacks and criticized the Vatican for what it considered to beryllium problematic comments astir the day by the Vatican’s top diplomat.

In an interrogation with Vatican Media, Cardinal Pietro Parolin had condemned the “inhuman massacre” of guiltless radical successful Israel by Hamas and the emergence of antisemitism. But helium besides said Israel’s razing of Gaza was itself a disproportionate massacre, and called connected countries to stop supplying Israel weapons to wage the war.

In a statement Tuesday connected X, the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See said Parolin’s interview, “though surely well-intentioned, risks undermining efforts to some extremity the war successful Gaza and antagonistic rising antisemitism.”

It criticized his “problematic use of motivation equivalence” by referring to massacres connected some sides.

The disapproval underscored the diplomatic tightrope the Vatican and Leo person to walk when wading into Mideast issues while trying to support the Holy See’s tradition of diplomatic neutrality. [AP, Reuters]