Leo XIV concludes visit to Turkey, travels to Lebanon with message of peace

The Pope Leo XIV concludes his four-day visit to Turkey after a warm welcome from the small Christian community, before heading to Lebanon. On his first international trip since his election as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

Leo XIV is the fifth pontiff to visit the Muslim-majority country after Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francisco in 2014.

A packed agenda

In the city of Iznik, the pope presided Friday over an ecumenical ritual to commemorate the 1,700 years of the First Council of Nicaea, considered the first effort to reach a universal consensus in Christendom.

Leo XIV also welcomed thousands of faithful on Saturday who braved the rain to attend an open Mass in Istanbul, with participants arriving from different parts of Turkey.

The pontiff attended a prayer service at the Armenian Cathedral on Sundayand led a divine liturgy, the Orthodox equivalent of a Mass, at the Patriarchal Church of St. George, before a final ecumenical blessing.

During his visit, the Pope met with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the world leader of Orthodox Christians, with whom he signed a joint statement in which they pledged to take "new and courageous steps on the path to unity." They also agreed to continue their efforts to establish a common date for Easter, currently celebrated separately by Catholics and Orthodox.

Despite the doctrinal differences that caused the Great Schism of 1054, dividing the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Orthodox Church in the East, the two sides maintain dialogue and hold joint celebrations.

A call for peace

Leo XIV's visit aroused little attention in Turkey, a country of 86 million people with a Muslim majority, whose Christian population is about 100,000 people.

But he is eagerly awaited in Lebanon, a multi-faith country of 5.8 million people, where there are an estimated between 1.5 and 2 million Catholics in the country.

He is eagerly awaited in Lebanon, a multi-faith country of about 5.8 million people that is home to an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million Catholics.

The Pope is scheduled to meet with political and religious leaders and make a call for peace and the strengthening of religious coexistence in the country. He is also expected to encourage the Lebanese Christian community to stay and contribute to national reconstruction at a time when many have emigrated.