Pope Leo to Visit Turkey and Lebanon

On his last day in Turkey, Leo XIV visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque where, unlike his two most recent predecessors, he did not visibly pray. The pope heads to Lebanon on Sunday.Pope Leo XIV visiting the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul on Saturday.Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York TimesPublished Nov. 26, 2025Updated Nov. 29, 2025Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, is days into the first international trip of his papacy, which has included stops in Turkey and will culminate in a visit to Lebanon that begins on Sunday.The choice of the pope’s first foreign destination is always watched closely for clues to his global priorities, and his decision to also visit a war-torn region rife with religious divisions is significant.Since landing in Turkey on Thursday, the pope has led a service overlooking the remains of an ancient Byzantine basilica, and met with Christian and Muslim leaders. He also spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and said after their meeting that a “heightened level of conflict on a global level” was distracting humanity from its greatest challenges.On Saturday morning, Pope Leo visited the 17th-century Sultan Ahmet Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul.Unlike his two most recent predecessors, Leo did not appear to pray inside the mosque. Under its large domes and stained glass windows, Asgin Musa Tunca, the muezzin — who calls the faithful to prayer — asked the pope if he would like to worship. Mr. Tunca told reporters that Leo demurred, saying “I’m just going to look around.”ImageA crowd outside the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul on Saturday, waiting for the pope.Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York TimesIn a statement, the Vatican said Pope Leo spent his time at the mosque “in a spirit of contemplation and listening.”On Sunday, Pope Leo is set to fly to Lebanon, home to the Arab world’s largest Catholic community, to meet with church and government officials, including President Joseph Aoun. He will rally the faithful as he says Mass at a port in Beirut that was ravaged by an explosion in 2020.How significant is it for a pope to visit Turkey and the Middle East?The region was the birthplace and center of Christianity for hundreds of years. Istanbul — then Constantinople — was the capital of Roman and Byzantine Empires for more than a millennium, and at the heart of a centuries-old fissure between Catholic and Orthodox Christians. The pope’s decision to travel there shows an interest in building bridges between branches of the religion.“It’s not just the past of Christianity,” said Fiona McCallum Guiney, a scholar of Maronite Catholics and Middle Eastern Christianity. “It’s the present, and they very much hope it’s also the future.”Beyond an appeal to Christians, Pope Leo’s inaugural trip signals that he wants to underscore the message he sent from his very first Sunday address in May when he called for peace.ImagePope Leo XIV visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday.Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York TimesWith the cease-fire in Gaza still fragile, and a year-long truce between Israel and Lebanese militias tested by recent airstrikes in Lebanon, “every international observer in the Muslim world and in Israel and in other countries will just listen to what he has to say in this tense situation during an ongoing conflict,” said Marco Politi, a veteran Vatican reporter in Rome.Why Turkey?Although few Catholics live in Turkey, Pope Francis, Leo’s predecessor, planned to travel to the country before he became ill this year. He wanted to visit the ancient site of Nicaea, to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council held there in 325.At that crucial meeting of bishops and church leaders, the group hammered out a creed that all Catholics — and in fact most Christians — still recite today during Sunday worship, affirming their belief that Jesus was the son of God.Pope Leo fulfilled Francis’s wish and became the first pontiff known to visit the site. Alongside other Christian clerics, he led an ecumenical service on Friday, where he described the celebration of the Nicaean creed as “a message of peace and universal fraternity that transcends the boundaries of our communities and nations.”With Turkey now majority Muslim, Pope Leo is not only looking to reach out to other Christians but to the Islamic world. The meeting with President Erdogan offered a chance to soothe relations with a leader who turned one of the world’s largest former Christian basilicas, the Hagia Sophia, into a mosque.Why Lebanon?Leo will be the first pope to go to Lebanon since Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2012 as a civil war raged in Syria next door.By traveling to Lebanon, Leo will support the presence of Maronite Catholics, who represent the largest contingent of Catholics in the Middle East. Their population has fallen since its peak several decades ago, largely because so many have emigrated. Visiting the port of Beirut is another way the pope can show support for suffering Lebanese.He is set to meet a number of political leaders, including President Aoun, who is Maronite Catholic; Nawaf Salam, the Sunni prime minister; and Nabih Berri, a Shiite Muslim politician. But local leaders say they believe the pope will steer clear of overt political messages, such as calling for disarmament by Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that fought a year-long war with Israel until November 2024.Some see the pope’s presence — a year to the week since that war ended — as an implicit push for the sides to maintain their shaky truce.Motoko Rich is the Times bureau chief in Rome, where she covers Italy, the Vatican and Greece.A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: Pope Leo Plans Visit To Lebanon And Turkey. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | SubscribeSKIP