Pope Leo takes message of peace to Middle East on first foreign visit. Here’s what to know

By Christopher Lamb, CNN

Rome (CNN) — Pope Leo XIV begins a six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon on Thursday, his first foreign trip since his election and one on which he’s expected to emphasize key themes of his fledgling pontificate – among them dialogue and unity.

Overseas trips are an important part of the papacy’s “soft power,” offering an opportunity for the pope to meet political leaders of his host country, address the local Catholic community and focus international media attention on regional issues.

By going to Lebanon, Leo is flying into the heart of a conflict-ridden Middle East, and he is due in Beirut just days after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital.

For Leo, the visit can give added weight to his appeals for harmony and dialogue in the Middle East, echoing the first words he uttered after his election: “Peace be with you all.”

He is also following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who used his papal visits to try to help war-torn countries such as South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Francis also went to Turkey and the Holy Land early in his papacy.

The first American pope is embarking on his first trip during the US Thanksgiving holiday, a time when gratitude, togetherness and peace come to the fore.

These themes may take on a broader, global resonance in a visit to two Muslim-majority countries that are home to ancient Christian communities. The pope’s trip is also expected to have a strong focus on dialogue and unity between the different branches of Christianity. Leo will also give all his speeches in English and French, and not in Italian, marking a shift in papal culture with the first US-born pontiff, who speaks several languages fluently.

Here’s a breakdown of the trip:

Why is the pope traveling to Turkey and Lebanon?

Pope Leo is honoring the promises made by his predecessor, Francis, to visit both countries. Francis had planned to visit Lebanon in 2022 and Turkey at some point in 2025 to commemorate an important church anniversary, but both trips were postponed for health reasons.

Leo has also been formally invited to visit the countries by their respective presidents. While Turkey is a country where most of the population is Muslim, it is home to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is considered the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox church and has his headquarters in Istanbul.

The Eastern and Western branches of Christianity split in 1054 in what was described as the “great schism.” Efforts have been made in recent decades to heal the divisions, with Francis, Benedict XVI and John Paul II all visiting Turkey early in their pontificates.

“I think Pope Leo is following his predecessors by going to Turkey on his first trip abroad. It is a massively Muslim country, but he is going there for Christian reasons,” Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald, a former leader of the Vatican’s office for inter-religious dialogue, told CNN.

The Vatican has long been engaged in Middle Eastern diplomacy, and in 2021 Pope Francis hosted Lebanese Christian leaders in the Vatican to address the country’s political crisis.

Leo’s visit to Lebanon comes after he has repeatedly called for dialogue and peace in the region. While Lebanon’s population is majority Muslim, the president of the country (currently Joseph Aoun) is by convention a Maronite Christian.

What anniversary is Leo marking in Turkey?

Leo is going to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which took place in modern-day Iznik, northwestern Turkey. The council of 325 AD agreed on a formulation of Christian belief called the “Nicene Creed,” which is still said in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and other churches today.

While in Turkey, Leo will take part in an event Friday in Iznik with Patriarch Bartholomew and other church leaders to mark the creed’s anniversary. Ahead of his visit, Leo published a letter saying that the 1,700th anniversary of Nicaea should encourage churches to “leave behind theological controversies that have lost their raison d’être,” while calling for “reconciliation through dialogue.”

The Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios (Dimitrios Nikiforos), the director of Patriarch Bartholomew’s private office who has been helping to plan the papal visit, told CNN that marking the anniversary “can also serve as a decisive moment for the present and the future of Christianity and its witness in the contemporary world.”

He added that protection of the environment will be on the agenda as part of “raising ecological awareness through common mobilization.” Bartholomew is sometimes referred to as the “Green Patriarch” for his environmental work.

Leo will also be in Turkey to mark the feast of Saint Andrew, an important ceremony for the Orthodox Church, and the pope is expected to sign a joint declaration with the patriarch.

In an age of division and religious persecution, “the symbolical presence of two global spiritual leaders renders the witness of Christianity more credible and impactful,” the Rev. John Chryssavgis, a theologian and adviser to Bartholomew, told CNN. He added that Leo’s visit underlines the “close connections and search for unity between Rome and Constantinople.”

While in Turkey, Leo will also make his first visit as pope to a mosque, Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, but he won’t go to the Hagia Sophia, a former church and later museum, which was converted back into a mosque in 2020. At the time, Pope Francis described himself as “pained” by Turkey’s decision. On Saturday, Leo will celebrate Mass with an estimated 4,000 people at the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul, and, in a late addition to the schedule, he’ll visit the Diyanet – the Presidency of Religious Affairs – in Ankara and meet the Chief Rabbi of Turkey.

What is Leo doing in Lebanon?

The pope arrives Sunday in Lebanon, where he is due to meet political leaders and young people, take part in an inter-religious gathering and celebrate a Mass on the Beirut waterfront.

On December 2, Leo will pray in silence at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, which left 218 dead and injured more than 7,000. Many in Lebanon are still waiting for an explanation as to its cause and, in early August, Leo sent a message to a vigil marking five years since the blast.

Lebanon is made up of a rich tapestry of different religious groups and is home to 12 Christian communities; Leo is due to have a private meeting with some of their leaders. He will also have a private meeting with Muslim and Druze leaders.

The largest Christian grouping in Lebanon is the Maronites, an eastern church that recognizes the authority of the pope and is part of the Catholic Church but has its own traditions, including allowing married men to be ordained as priests.

Leo will visit the monastery of Saint Maron, the 4th century patron of the Maronite church, so he can pray at the tomb of another important saint, Charbel Makhlouf, a monk renowned for bringing people of different faiths together.

The pope’s busy schedule also includes a visit to a large psychiatric facility run by Catholic religious sisters, the Dde la Croix hospital in Jal el- Dib, and he’ll plant a cedar tree while in the Presidential Palace in Beirut.

The Rev. Michel Abboud, who is president of Caritas Lebanon, the Catholic church’s charitable arm in the country, told Vatican News that the pope’s visit means “the people will know that, despite all the difficult situations they have been through, they must not feel abandoned.”

How does the pope travel and who is he traveling with?

The first pontiff to travel by airplane on an official trip was Pope Paul VI, when he flew to Jordan in 1964, marking the beginning of modern-day papal foreign travel. Leo will fly on an ITA Airways plane, a papal flight sometimes nicknamed “Shepherd One,” accompanied by around 80 journalists.

He will be accompanied by senior figures from the Vatican, including the cardinals who run the departments for Christian unity, inter-religious dialogue and eastern churches, his secretaries and a medical team. The pope and his party sit at the front of the plane and media at the back. Pope Francis would go to the back of the plane to greet all the journalists traveling with him individually, and on the way back would hold a press conference.

A papal press conference has not been confirmed but if one is held, it will likely be on the returning flight. Leo has been holding impromptu press gaggles outside the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo.

While he’s in Turkey and Lebanon, Leo will be transported by car and military helicopter, and is expected to use a papal-style golf-buggy in the Volkswagen arena in Turkey. A Vatican spokesman told reporters on Tuesday that Leo will use open- top transport in both countries but “the most appropriate vehicle will be chosen depending on the situation.”

Where will he stay?

Popes normally stay in the residence of the papal ambassador – known as the “apostolic nuncio” – when on overseas visits, and the Vatican has embassies in the capital cities of both Turkey and Lebanon.

While in Turkey, however, he is not staying overnight in Ankara, so will instead be staying at the Apostolic Delegation in Istanbul, the home of the Holy See representative in Turkey before the capital moved. The property is on Papa Roncalli Street, named after Pope John XXIII, who was the Holy See representative to Turkey and Greece in the 1930s and 40s.

Will Leo celebrate Thanksgiving?

It’s not known if or how Leo will celebrate and a Vatican spokesman said he did not have any information to share when asked by CNN on Tuesday.

One of his brothers, John, has talked of how Leo loves Thanksgiving stuffing, a side dish that traditionally accompanies roast turkey.

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