Pope Leo XIV visits Turkey on first foreign trip for religious, political ties

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed upon his arrival at Esenboga International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, yesterday

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Turkey yesterday on his first foreign trip, fulfilling Pope Francis’ plans to mark an important Christian anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time in efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions.

Leo was welcomed on the tarmac of Ankara’s Esenboga Airport by a military guard of honor. Strolling along a turquoise carpet, he shook hands with Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, other officials and senior church figures from Turkey.

Later, he had a meeting planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a speech to the country’s diplomatic corps. He’ll then move today [Macau time] on to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his trip.

Speaking to reporters on board his plane, Leo acknowledged the historic nature of his first foreign trip and said he has been looking forward to it because of what it means for Christians and for peace in the world.

Leo said he knows the visit to commemorate a key ecumenical anniversary was important for Christians. But he said he hoped his broader message of peace would resonate worldwide.

“We hope to also announce, transmit and proclaim how important peace is throughout the world. And to invite all people to come together to search for greater unity, greater harmony, and to look for the ways that all men and women can truly be brothers and sisters in spite of differences, in spite of different religions, in spite of different beliefs.”

Leo’s visit comes as Turkey, a country of more than 85 million predominantly Sunni Muslims, has cast itself as a key intermediary in peace negotiations for the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Ankara has hosted rounds of low-level talks between Russia and Ukraine and has offered to take part in the stabilization force in Gaza to help uphold the fragile ceasefire, engagements Leo may applaud in his arrival speech.

Turkey’s growing military weight, as NATO’s largest army after the U.S., has been drawing Western leaders closer to Erdogan even as critics warn of his crackdown on the country’s main opposition party.

Though support for Palestinians and an end to the war in Ukraine is widespread in Turkey, for Turks who face an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, owing to market turmoil induced by shake-ups in domestic politics, international politics is a secondary concern.

That could explain why Leo’s visit has largely escaped the attention of many in Turkey, at least outside the country’s small Christian community.

“I didn’t know he was coming. He is welcome,” said Sukran Celebi. “It would be good if he called for peace in the world, but I don’t think it will change anything.”

The main impetus for Leo to travel to Turkey is to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.

Leo will pray with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at the site of the A.D. 325 gathering in today’s Iznik in northwestern Turkey, and sign a joint declaration in a visible sign of Christian unity.

Eastern and Western churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.

While the visit is timed for the important Catholic-Orthodox anniversary, it will also allow Leo to reinforce the church’s relations with Muslims. Leo is due to visit the Blue Mosque and preside over an interfaith meeting in Istanbul.

Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan’s government has enacted reforms to improve the rights of religious groups, including opening places of worship and returning property that were confiscated.

Still, some Christian groups face legal and bureaucratic problems when trying to register churches, according to a U.S. State Department report on religious freedoms. NICOLE WINFIELD, ANKARA, MDT/AP