Pope Leo XIV concluded the first apostolic journey of his pontificate to Turkey and Lebanon on 2 December 2025.
Many expected strong messages, admonitions and firm positions from the head of the Catholic Church, but the pope continued to display the restraint befitting his office and the role of spiritual leader as head of the world’s largest Christian church.
Pope Leo is not as emotional and charismatic as his predecessor Franciscus; he is more of a spiritual leader, but during the six months of his pontificate Leo has been emerging as an advocate for peace.
During the apostolic journey, calls for peace were repeatedly voiced in meetings with both the political elite and civil authorities of Turkey and Lebanon, and with local Christians.
Pope Leo: Turkey has an important role in securing peace in the Middle East and in Ukraine
The purpose of the trip to Turkey was the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. In the place in Turkey where the Council was held, present-day İznik, Pope Leo XIV joined about 27 other leaders of Christian churches, including the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.
He said in his address that the Council of Nicaea agreed on a christological profession of faith, which we now call the Nicene Creed and which is professed by all Christian churches and communities. “The symbol of faith, as it is known, has decisive importance on the Christians’ path toward full communion.”
The head of the Catholic Church endorsed the role of religions in service of the truth and in encouraging people to seek dialogue and respect. He noted that we must firmly reject any use of religion to justify war, violence or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism, and instead follow paths of fraternal encounter, dialogue and cooperation.
Finally, Pope Leo XIV prayed that God the Father would help the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea to bear rich fruits of reconciliation, unity and peace among all peoples.
At the Mass in Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena on Sunday, to mark the start of Advent with Turkey’s Catholics, the Pope emphasized building bridges between people – within the community, in ecumenical relations with members of other Christian denominations and in encounters with brothers and sisters belonging to other religions. Therefore the Pope called on everyone to walk together and to value the things that unite us. “We must tear down the walls of prejudice and distrust, promoting mutual understanding and respect,” he said, “so that we can be bearers of hope and called to be peacemakers,” said the Pope.
Leo XIV also expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to meet with Turkey’s president Erdoğan. “This path and the chance to speak with him calmly were an important and valuable part of my visit to Turkey,” the Pope added. “Already some months ago, when an opportunity for dialogue arose between Ukraine and Russia, the president contributed greatly to convening both sides. Unfortunately we still have not seen a solution. We hope that President Erdoğan, in his relations with the presidents of Ukraine, Russia and the United States of America, will help promote dialogue and a ceasefire in this regard and see how to resolve this conflict, this war in Ukraine,” Leo XIV noted on the way to Lebanon.
Faith must be service and responsibility
The Pope’s visit to Lebanon, however, marked a very different approach. The Pope had arrived in a country battered by conflicts and wars, one that is indeed being rebuilt vigorously, yet is overshadowed by a veil of fear.
The Pope decided to fly from Turkey to Lebanon to show his solidarity with a suffering people and to encourage people to work together for peace. And the unity of faith and service has a great role here.
The Pope met in Beirut among the ruins on 4 August 2020 with victims and survivors of the city’s attack, who were holding photos of their deceased relatives. More than 200 people died in the explosion, 7,000 were injured and 300,000 were left homeless – a tragedy that deepened the political and economic crisis already weighing on the population. To this day, almost six years later, those responsible for the explosion have still not been held accountable.
Each year thousands of pilgrims, both Christians and Muslims, travel to Annaya in Lebanon to pray at the tomb of Saint Charbel Makhlouf – a saint to whom more than 30 000 miracles have been attributed. It is known that our beloved Catholic priest Vello Salo (1925–2019) visited the tomb during his lifetime, and there is even a small relic of Saint Charbel in the Pirita Convent. By visiting Charbel’s tomb, Pope Leo XIV expressed his conviction that the saints are able to help us on the path to achieving peace. “Brothers and sisters, today we entrust all the needs of the Church, Lebanon and the whole world to the intercession of Saint Charbel. I ask for peace for the world, but we know well – and the saints remind us – that there is no peace without the conversion of hearts. May Saint Charbel therefore help us turn to God and ask for the grace of conversion for us all.”
In Lebanon Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for 120,000 Lebanese faithful. This crowd was a surprise to many! At the beginning of the Mass, Antiochian Greek Melkite Patriarch Youssef Absi recalled that the vast majority of Lebanese Catholics belong to the Eastern churches, and he thanked the Pope for his concern for the Eastern-rite Catholics and for bringing the message of joy and peace to Lebanon. Thus both Latin-rite and Eastern Catholics participated in the Mass. Representatives of other faiths had also come.
Despite the difficult circumstances in Lebanon’s recent history and today, which many people face in their daily lives, the Pope asked everyone to dedicate themselves to that land during Mass: “The Word of the Lord invites us to find, in the heart of the night, small shining lights, to open ourselves to gratitude and to encourage us to a shared commitment on behalf of this land.” The head of the Catholic Church encouraged the Lebanese to be peacemakers, proclaimers of peace, witnesses to peace.
Pope Leo also noted in his peace message sent from Lebanon that today the Middle East needs new approaches to change a mentality of revenge and violence, to bridge divides and to build reconciliation and peace. “The paths of mutual hatred and destruction through the horrors of war have been walked for too long, whose regrettable consequences are before everyone’s eyes,” he said. “We must change course; we must train our hearts for peace.” Then Pope Leo XIV prayed at the end of Mass for the Middle East and for all peoples suffering because of war. Pope Leo himself noted that this trip to Lebanon extended to the spreading of his message of peace to the entire Middle East region.
The Holy See’s diplomacy in peace talks
One of the most important moments of papal foreign trips is the press conference for journalists on the plane. On board the aircraft en route to Rome he spoke about the role of the Holy See in peace negotiations, which operates so-called behind the scenes so that all parties can lay down their arms. “This is something we have already done and will continue to do, to persuade parties to lay down their arms, to renounce violence and to come to the negotiating table — in short, to seek answers and solutions that are not violent but can be more effective,” said Pope Leo XIV.
In response to a journalist from the Italian daily Corriera Della Sera about the hybrid war, the pope answered that it is a war that has many aspects: an increase in the number of weapons, the ongoing production of all armaments, cyberattacks, energy, etc.
The pope also mentioned the topic of a US–Russia peace agreement. ‘It is clear that, on the one hand, the President of the United States believes he can promote a peace plan that he would like to implement and which, at least initially, is without Europe, but Europe’s presence is important. More specifically, I think Italy’s role could be very important. Culturally and historically, Italy has the capacity to act as a mediator in the conflict that exists between the various parties – Ukraine, Russia, the United States of America… –. In this sense I could suggest that the Holy See could encourage such mediation and that one should seek – and that we should seek together – a solution that would offer true peace, a just peace, in this case in Ukraine,’ Pope Leo XIV noted at the end of the press conference.