Pope Leo XIV is to make his first Apostolic journeys outside of Rome starting in Türkiye at the end November and later Lebanon in December.
Pope Leo XIV was elected in May of this year after the death of Pope Francis. He became the first American Pope and has so far been popular amongst the Catholic community. Officials from both Lebanon and Türkiye say that both countries look forward to the visit.
Pope Leo will be the fifth Pope to visit Türkiye. With the last visit being made by Pope Francis in 2014 amid rising tension in the region. Türkiye had seen an influx of refugees from Syria and Iraq, many of them Christians. This had increased tensions between the Muslim majority, Christian and Catholic minorities within Türkiye. Pope Francis visited the country in hope of encouraging dialogue between Christians and Muslims; Pope Leo has similar intentions.
His trip in Türkiye will include a meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the orthodox Christian church. They will visit the city of Iznek to celebrate the formation of the council of Nicaea 1,700 years ago. The visit aims to once again strengthen relations between the Catholic church and orthodox Christian community.
Pope Leo will then go on the visit to Lebanon; the country hasn’t hosted a papal visit since 2012 a year after the breakout of the Syrian civil war. Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Lebanon was in his words a “Pilgrim of peace.” He emphasised the need for dialogue across religions in the region and hoped that Lebanon “serve as a model to the inhabitants of the whole region and of the entire world.”
Pope Leo’s trip comes at a delicate time for Lebanon. In September 2024 Israel conducted multiple airstrikes on Lebanon, targeting members of Hezbollah, a paramilitary group which had publicly condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza and had launched rockets into northern Israel. On October 1st Israel invaded and continued aerial bombings in southern Lebanon. A ceasefire agreement was signed in late November, with a reported 800 people, many of them civilians, killed in a week due to the airstrikes.
A further 9 civilians were reported dead as well as 2,800 injured in an operation alleged to be the actions of Israel, which caused thousands of handheld pagers allegedly used by members of Hezbollah to explode simultaneously across Lebanon. Despite the ceasefire being agreed upon between Lebanon and Israel in November of 2024 tensions remain high.
Pope Leo has been very vocal on hope for an end of the genocide in Gaza. Commenting on recent ceasefire talks that he prays for a “just and lasting peace.” He condemned Israel’s attack on the last remaining Christian church in Gaza earlier this year where three of approximately 600 Gazans were seeking shelter. He expressed “deep sorrow” for the attack and called for “an immediate halt to the barbarity.”
His trip to Lebanon is likely to echo his hope for peace and unity in the region. The Lebanese president stated “Lebanon — its leadership and its people — looks to this visit with great hope at a time when challenges are growing on every level.”
