On a Thursday late in November, Pope Leo XIV stepped onto the road of his first journey abroad as pontiff, carrying a Church's memory of its own beginnings into a region where faith and power have long been tangled. He began in Ankara, where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and spoke of Turkey as a bridge between East and West, then moved on to Istanbul for days of meetings with fellow Christians and leaders of other faiths. The reason for the stop lies sixteen centuries and more in the past: 1,700 years since the Council of Nicaea, which gave Christianity its first shared statement of be
Pope Leo XIV Opens First Foreign Trip in Turkey, Seeking Christian Unity and Peace in the Region
A message of peace at a crucial time, carried first to Turkey
Mark
Why does a 1,700-year-old council matter enough to be the pope's first trip abroad?
Mimi
Because Nicaea in A.D. 325 produced the first Nicene Creed, which millions of Christians still recite on Sundays. It's a shared text, so it works as a point of unity.
Mark
And Lebanon comes next. What's the thinking there?
Mimi
The Vatican sees Lebanon's tradition of religious tolerance as a bulwark for Christians in the region, whose communities have shrunk after years of war.
Luke
The report says the trip comes at a crucial time for ending the war in Ukraine and easing Mideast tensions. Is there anything showing the visit will affect either?
Mimi
Not in what's reported. It describes a message of peace, not any negotiation or agreement.
Mark
What about the Erdogan meeting?
Mimi
Leo highlighted Turkey as a bridge between East and West. That's the one substantive thing we know from it.
Luke
And the meeting with Safi Arpagus was closed to the press, so its content is unknown.
Mark
Then there's Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot John Paul II, turning up in Iznik.
Mimi
He says he wants to meet Leo. A Turkish official says he came on his own and no meeting is planned.
Luke
Right, so his wish is only his own statement. The official's account is the only confirmation about the schedule, and it says no meeting.
Il Polso
- The pope's first trip abroad opens under tightened security, with roads closed along his route from the Istanbul airport.
- A gunman who once shot John Paul II, Mehmet Ali Agca, has surfaced in Iznik, claiming he wants to meet Leo, though officials say no meeting is planned.
- Behind closed doors in Ankara, Leo met the head of Turkey's religious affairs directorate, and what passed between them remains unreported.
- Ukraine and the Middle East both simmer in the background, and the Vatican presents the journey as a plea for peace at a fragile moment.
- The trip moves into three days of ecumenical and interfaith talks in Istanbul before continuing to Lebanon through Tuesday.
On a Thursday late in November, Pope Leo XIV stepped onto the road of his first journey abroad as pontiff, carrying a Church's memory of its own beginnings into a region where faith and power have long been tangled. He began in Ankara, where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and spoke of Turkey as a bridge between East and West, then moved on to Istanbul for days of meetings with fellow Christians and leaders of other faiths. The reason for the stop lies sixteen centuries and more in the past: 1,700 years since the Council of Nicaea, which gave Christianity its first shared statement of belief in A.D. 325. The journey then turns toward Lebanon, where a small and endangered Christian community is a reminder of what a region can lose when conflict drives its believers away.
Pope Leo XIV began his first trip abroad as pontiff in Turkey on Thursday, flying first to Ankara. There he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and offered Turkey as a bridge between East and West. Before leaving the capital, he sat privately with Safi Arpagus, who leads the country's directorate for religious affairs and is a former mufti of Istanbul. The meeting was closed to the press, so its content is unknown.
The heart of the Turkish stop is an anniversary. Sixteen centuries and more ago, the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council in Christian history, met in what is now Iznik, and in A.D. 325 it produced the first Nicene Creed, a text that Christians still recite at Sunday worship. Iznik is the center of this year's commemoration, and it also drew an unexpected visitor: Mehmet Ali Agca, who wounded John Paul II in 1981. He says he wants to meet Leo. Turkish officials say he came alone and that no meeting is planned.
In Istanbul, a city of nearly 16 million, security has been tightened and several roads on the route from the airport were closed. Over the next three days the pope will meet Christian leaders and leaders of other faiths. Then he travels to Lebanon, where the Vatican sees a tradition of religious tolerance as a shelter for Middle Eastern Christians, whose communities, some reaching back to the Apostles, have shrunk through years of war.
Pope Leo XIV began his first trip abroad as pontiff in Turkey this Thursday. He went first to Ankara, where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and used the meeting to point to Turkey's place as a bridge between East and West. The trip will take him on to Lebanon, and the Vatican has framed the whole journey as a message of peace at a delicate moment, with efforts to end the war in Ukraine and to ease tensions in the Middle East both under way.
Before leaving the capital, Leo visited Safi Arpagus, who heads Turkey's directorate for religious affairs. The meeting was closed to the media, so what the two men discussed has not been reported. Arpagus is a former mufti, the religious head, of Istanbul. Later on Thursday the pope arrived in Istanbul, where three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings are scheduled.
The main reason for the Turkish stop is an anniversary. This year marks 1,700 years since the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council in Christian history. In A.D. 325 the council produced the first version of the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that millions of Christians still recite at Sunday services. The commemoration is centered on Iznik, the Turkish town associated with the council.
Iznik has drawn an unexpected visitor. Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981, arrived there ahead of the anniversary ceremonies. He told Turkish media he wants to meet Leo. A Turkish official said Agca had come to the town on his own and that no meeting with the pope is planned. Agca served 19 years in prison in Italy for the assassination attempt before being deported to Turkey, where he served a 10-year sentence for the murder of a newspaper editor.
In Istanbul, a city of nearly 16 million people, authorities tightened security for the visit. Haberturk television and other Turkish media reported that several roads along the pope's route from the airport were closed.
After Turkey, Leo will go to Lebanon, where the visit runs until Tuesday. For the Vatican, Lebanon and its tradition of religious tolerance serve as a bulwark for Christians in the Middle East. That matters more after years of conflict and war that have shrunk Christian communities in the region, some of which date back to the time of the Apostles.
The days ahead in Istanbul are given over to meetings with other Christian leaders and with leaders of other faiths, before the Lebanese leg begins.
Citazioni salienti
Agca arrived in the town on his own and no meeting with the pope is planned.— A Turkish official
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