Pope Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first foreign trip : NPR

VATICAN CITY – Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first trip abroad, a pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon that would be delicate under any circumstances but is all the more terrifying given Middle East tensions and the media glare that will put the first American Pope in history on the road.

Leo is completing a visit that Pope Francis had planned to Türkiye to mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox Church. In Lebanon, he will try to energize the long-suffering Christian community as well as Lebanese people of all religions who are still demanding justice over the 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Leo, who spent 12 years as superior of his Augustinian religious order and two decades as a missionary in Peru, says he loves to travel. And in recent weeks, he has shown diplomatic and linguistic acumen in quickly responding to journalists’ questions.

The visit is being closely covered by the US media, with all major US networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox as well as CNN and BBC – inside Leo’s travel pool, following his speeches, sermons and prayers at a critical moment in negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and maintain the ceasefire in Gaza.

Vatican correspondents as well as Lebanese and Turkish media visited the papal press contingent of approximately 80 journalists, with a substantial waiting list of journalists who had applied to be on the papal plane but were denied seats due to limited space.

“Whenever the pope travels, it’s a big deal,” said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, an associate professor of theology at Fordham University in New York.

But an American Pope on his first trip abroad is an even bigger deal, he said, especially in the saturated American media ecosystem where Leo has emerged as a thorn in the side of the Trump administration and its crackdown on immigrants.

“He’s still driving the coverage here because one of the most important issues we face is migration,” said Kim Daniels, director of the Catholic Social Thought and Public Life Initiative at Georgetown University. Because of that, “I think this trip will again draw attention to marginalized people and vulnerable people.”

Notably, Leo plans to deliver all of his remarks in English in Turkey and in English and French in Lebanon, abandoning the Vatican’s Italian language in favor of more widely understood languages.

All eyes will be on Leo’s in-flight press conference as he returns to Rome on December 2. These encounters provided many of Francis’s headline-grabbing jokes during his 12-year papacy, beginning with the first in 2013 when he famously said “Who am I to judge” about an alleged gay priest.

Leo has shown himself to be far more prudent and diplomatic than his predecessor. But “Maybe he’ll do something crazy like, ‘Who am I to judge?'” Imperatori-Lee said.

A key moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations

Main motivation for trip to Türkiye, first stop in November 27-December. 2 The trip is to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.

Leo will pray with Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at the 325 AD meeting place – today’s Iznik – and sign a joint declaration in a clear sign of Christian unity.

The Eastern and Western churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a division largely caused by disagreement over the primacy of the Pope.

“We all understand that 1,000 years of division have left a deep wound that cannot be easily healed,” Bartholomew recently told the prestigious Greek daily Kathimerini. “However, we have an obligation to try to heal that wound, heal the injuries, bridge the gaps, and restore unity.”

Opportunity to speak about Middle East peace

The trip will provide Leo with many opportunities to speak about overall regional tensions, Catholic-Muslim relations and the declining presence of Christians in the Middle East.

The Vatican’s strong support for Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s war, first under Francis and now Leo, has boosted the church’s credibility among ordinary Muslims, the region’s clergy say.

“At a moment when many Western powers were hesitant on the Gaza question, Francis – and then Leo – were very strong. He did not go to Gaza but whatever he could have said, it seems he said it,” said the Rev. Paolo Puglise, superior of Capuchin monks in Turkey.

However, regional conflicts have not subsided: Israel carried out an airstrike on the Lebanese capital on Sunday, killing Hezbollah’s chief of staff and four others.

Security is expected to remain tight

The strike only reinforced the security concerns that often accompany papal visits. But organizers insisted Leo would be safe.

“It happened, but it has no impact on the places or where the Pope is visiting,” said Bishop George Bakouni, archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Beirut.

The Vatican said no additional security measures had been taken, although spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to say whether Leo’s cars and the Popemobile were bullet-proof.

Significantly, Leo will not visit Lebanon’s south, which was hit by last year’s war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the site of Israeli attacks that have intensified in recent weeks. Christian groups in southern Lebanon have lobbied for the Pope to visit the region and circulated a new petition this week.

Organizers said Israeli drones flying over Beirut could cause greater trouble to Leo.

A prayer at the port explosion site

The highlight of the Lebanese trip comes on Leo’s last day, December 2, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the August 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion.

The blast in the Lebanese capital killed at least 218 people, injured more than 6,000 and destroyed large parts of Beirut. When hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in a warehouse, the explosion caused billions of dollars in damage.

Lebanese citizens were outraged by the explosion, which appeared to be the result of government negligence, on top of an economic crisis stemming from decades of corruption and financial crimes. But the investigation has repeatedly stalled, and five years later no officials have been convicted.

Lebanese hope Leo will demand accountability from Lebanon’s political class and emphasize that there can be no peace without truth and justice.

Such an appeal “could shock our various political leaders, because we are living under the pressure of a social crisis, an economic crisis, in a country where various leaders hear neither the cry of the poor, nor the cry of the unfortunate, nor the cry of the citizens,” said Monsignor Cesar Essayen, Beirut’s apostolic vicar for Latin rite Catholics.

Another important moment will come when Leo meets the young Lebanese. He is expected to offer words of encouragement to the Lebanese people amid their decades-long journey abroad, while also acknowledging their disillusionment over the failures of adults.

“Many families feel they are living day to day and really have very little visibility on the future,” said Marielle Boutros, project coordinator in Lebanon for Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity. “So this visit of His Holiness, it is not just symbolic. It is really a concrete sign that Lebanon has not been forgotten.”