{"id":285294,"date":"2025-10-08T01:49:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/285294\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T01:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:49:15","slug":"pope-to-visit-turkey-and-lebanon-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/285294\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope to visit Turkey and Lebanon in November"},"content":{"rendered":"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) \u2014 Pope Leo XIV<\/a> said Tuesday his first foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon next month, would provide a historic opportunity to promote Christian unity while bringing a message of peace and hope to Lebanon\u2019s long-suffering people and the broader Middle East.<\/p>\n

Leo outlined the trip, announced by the Vatican Tuesday on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, during an encounter with reporters as he left the papal country estate south of Rome.<\/p>\n

Leo will travel first to Turkey from Nov. 27-30, then Lebanon from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. The trip to Turkey will include a pilgrimage to Iznik to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, Christianity\u2019s first ecumenical council.<\/p>\n

The anniversary is an important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations, since the 325 A.D. Nicea meeting predates the schisms that divided Christianity\u2019s East from West and is accepted by Catholic and Orthodox churches alike.<\/p>\n

Leo told reporters as he left the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday that the anniversary offered \u201ca moment of authentic unity in the faith\u201d with Orthodox Christians, \u201ca historic moment not to look back but to look forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis had planned to mark it with his own trip to Turkey in May at the invitation of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world\u2019s Orthodox Christians. Francis died in April, and Leo said from the start of his pontificate that he intended to fulfill Francis\u2019 plans.<\/p>\n

Christian community in Lebanon<\/p>\n

The trip will give the first American pope a chance to speak in broad terms about peace in the Middle East<\/a> and the plight of Christians there.<\/p>\n

Leo told reporters he was also fulfilling a wish of Francis to go to Lebanon to embrace its people and bring a message of hope and \u201cpeace in the Middle East, and in a country that has suffered so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis had long hoped to visit Lebanon<\/a>, but the country\u2019s political and economic instability prevented a visit during his lifetime. The Mediterranean nation of around 6 million, including more than 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees, has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East and is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.<\/p>\n

However, the Vatican fears the country\u2019s instability has been particularly dangerous for the continued presence of its Christian community, a bulwark for the church in the Mideast.<\/p>\n

Lebanon is currently struggling to recover after years of economic crisis and a bruising war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah<\/a> that ended with a U.S. and France-brokered ceasefire<\/a> in November. Formation of a new, reformist government ended a two-year political vacuum and brought hopes of recovery but the situation remains tense.<\/p>\n

Israel has continued to occupy five strategic points on the Lebanese side of the border and carry out near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from regrouping. Hezbollah is under increasing domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal but has refused to do so until Israel withdraws and halts its strikes. There are fears of civil conflict if Lebanese authorities attempt to forcibly disarm the group.<\/p>\n

\u2018A sign of unity for all\u2019<\/p>\n

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Ra\u00ef, leader of Lebanon\u2019s Maronite Church, said Lebanon awaited the pope\u2019s visit with \u201cgreat joy and renewed hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that this apostolic visit to Lebanon will bring peace and stability and be a sign of unity for all Lebanese, Christians and Muslims alike, at this critical stage in our nation\u2019s history,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The last pope to visit Lebanon was Pope Benedict XVI in September 2012 on what was the last foreign trip of his papacy.<\/p>\n

About one-third of Lebanon\u2019s population is believed to be Christian, though there is no official number since there hasn\u2019t been an official census since 1932. The Maronites are the largest and most powerful sect and, by convention, Lebanon\u2019s president is always a Maronite Christian.<\/p>\n

Tightrope over Mideast issues<\/p>\n

The pope\u2019s trip was announced as Israel marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks and criticized the Vatican for what it considered to be problematic comments about the anniversary by the Vatican\u2019s top diplomat.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Vatican Media, Cardinal Pietro Parolin had condemned the \u201cinhuman massacre\u201d of innocent people in Israel by Hamas and the rise of antisemitism. But he also said Israel\u2019s razing of Gaza was itself a disproportionate massacre, and called on countries to stop supplying Israel weapons to wage the war.<\/p>\n

In a statement Tuesday on X, the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See said Parolin\u2019s interview, \u201cthough surely well-intentioned, risks undermining efforts to both end the war in Gaza and counter rising antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

It criticized his \u201cproblematic use of moral equivalence\u201d by referring to massacres on both sides.<\/p>\n

Leo declined to enter into the dispute on Tuesday. He has consistently called for peace<\/a> and dialogue in the Middle East, especially as Israel\u2019s offensive rages on in Gaza, and repeated that on Tuesday. He condemned the Oct. 7 attacks as \u201cterrorism\u201d and said terrorist groups were unacceptable.<\/p>\n

But he also cited the 67,000 Palestinians killed in Israel\u2019s war in Gaza as evidence of \u201chow much hatred exists in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes you think about how much violence and evil humans are capable of,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must reduce hatred, we must return to the ability to dialogue, to seek peaceful solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Winfield contributed from Rome.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) \u2014 Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday his first foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":285295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[97,20496,8571,57,4527,4783,3462,13192,3097,50,146971,32411,32408,3417,365,74564,24922,22062,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-285294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-catholic-church","10":"tag-christianity","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-hamas","13":"tag-hezbollah","14":"tag-israel-government","15":"tag-lebanon","16":"tag-middle-east","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-orthodox-church","19":"tag-pietro-parolin","20":"tag-pope-benedict-xvi","21":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","22":"tag-religion","23":"tag-spirituality","24":"tag-turkey","25":"tag-vatican-city","26":"tag-world","27":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115336037783380105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}