Pope to visit Turkey and Lebanon in first trip abroad

Pope Leo will go to Türkiye and Lebanon in late November and by the new leader of the 1.4 billion -member Global Catholic Church during the first visit outside the Vatican and Italy.

Leo, the first US Pope, will visit Türkiye on 27-30 November before going to Lebanon between 30 November and 2 December, where he is expected to talk about the bad situations of Christians in the Middle East and to appeal for peace in the region.

Leo was chosen by the world Catholic cardinals on May 8, instead of the deceased Pope Francis, who plans to visit both countries but could not go due to health problems.

The Pope is expected to meet with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world, to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of a large Early Church Council in Nicaea, now called Iznik.

“Pope Leo’s first official journey (Patriarch) to visit on his first official journey (Patriarch),” Bartholomew adviser Reverend John Chryssavgi told Reuters. He said.

“Pope Leo is undoubtedly trying to express and confirm its identity as a Christian in many different beliefs in which all people are called to live with mutual understanding, regardless of religion and race.” He said.

It has become an important part of the Modern Papacy with Popes, who wanted to travel abroad, meet local Catholics, spread faith and carry out international diplomacy.

A new Pope’s first trips are often seen as an indication of the problems he wants to emphasize during the reign of Pontiff.

Leo was expected to travel to Türkiye for his first trip abroad for months, but additional visit to Lebanon appeared only in recent weeks.

The Vatican officials say that Pontiff wants to commemorate the 2020 chemical explosion at the port of Beirut, which killed 200 people and killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars of damage.