Leo XIV asks Turkey to be 'a factor of stability and rapprochement among peoples'

The Pope Leo XIV on Thursday urged Turkey to play a "stabilizing" role in a global context that is "strongly conflictive," at the start of the first foreign trip of his pontificate, which will also take him to Lebanon.

Arriving in Ankara shortly after noon, the pope was received at the presidential palace by the head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the hymns of the Vatican and of Turkey, plus cannon salutes.

"Mr. President [Erdogan], may Turkey be a factor of stability and rapprochement between peoples, at the service of a just and lasting peace" the pontiff affirmed.

Turkey is a prominent player in the volatile geopolitics of Middle East and is also involved in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war that began with the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Leo XIV praised the country as "a bridge between East and West, between Asia and Europe and a crossroads of cultures and religions." However, according to AFP, he warned that the homogenization of the country, with barely 0.1% of Christians among 86 million inhabitants, "would represent an impoverishment."

For his part, Erdogan assured that Turkey does not allow "discrimination" and that they do not see "cultural, religious and ethnic differences as a source of division, but of enrichment."

"Turkey, where 99% of the citizens are Muslims, encourages respect for all confessions, also Christian communities," he assured.

A trip planned by Pope Francis

Aboard the plane that took him from Rome to Ankara, the pontiff explained to the 80 journalists accompanying him his impatience for this trip planned for his predecessor, Pope Francis, who died in May. "I was looking forward to this trip with great anticipation because of what it means for Christians, although it is also a beautiful message for the whole world," he said.

On his arrival, the pope crossed a capital seized by security forces to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and symbol of the secular republic.

In recent years, the country's secular status has been challenged by the rise of religious nationalism and the politicization of symbols such as Istanbul's Holy Sophia basilica, converted into a mosque in 2020. Despite this, the Vatican seeks to maintain dialogue with Ankara, which it considers key to peace in the region.

The Holy See recognizes the effort made by Turkey to welcome on its territory more than 2.5 million refugees, mostly Syrians, according to the authorities.