GREEK REPORTER
Pope Leo Arrives in Turkey; Set to Join Patriarch Bartholomew in Nicaea Trip
Pope Leo has arrived on his first foreign trip as Catholic leader in Turkey, which will then be followed in the coming days with a visit to Lebanon.
Leo landed in the capital, Ankara, on Thursday for what is a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkey before heading to Lebanon. He was welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Earlier, the pontiff paid respects at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Ankara, before being officially welcomed at the Presidential Complex.
Pope Leo to join Patriarch Bartholomew in Nicaea trip
The main impetus for traveling to Turkey, the first stop in the November 27-December 2 trip, 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 325 AD gathering—today’s Iznik—and sign a joint declaration in a visible sign of Christian unity.
The Eastern and Western Churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope. “We all understand that 1,000 years of division has inflicted a deep wound that cannot be healed easily,” Bartholomew said recently. “We have an obligation, however, to strive to heal that wound, mend the injuries, bridge the distances and restore unity.”
The visit will also offer Leo several occasions to speak about regional tensions overall, Catholic-Muslim relations, and Christians’ dwindling presence in the Middle East. Clergy in the region say the Vatican’s strong support for Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s war, first under Francis and now under Leo, has bolstered the church’s credibility among ordinary Muslims.
Related: Pope Leo Calls for Common Catholic-Orthodox Easter at Nicaea Symposium
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