Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the United States, will embark on his first international trip this year, visiting eight cities in Turkey and Lebanon, the Vatican announced. The visit will last from November 27 to December 2 and will be a symbolic call for peace and interfaith dialogue in the region. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
Details
In Turkey, the Pope will hold a series of joint events with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of 260 million Orthodox Christians, in honor of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in Iznik. In addition, he will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, visit the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and celebrate Mass at the Volkswagen Arena.
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After that, Pope Leo will travel to Lebanon, where he will meet with President Joseph Aoun, lead an interfaith meeting in Beirut, and celebrate an open-air Mass on the city's waterfront. A special part of the visit will be a prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, which claimed the lives of more than 200 people.
The Vatican named the official motto of the trip to Lebanon – "Blessed are the peacemakers."
According to experts, the choice of Muslim-majority countries underscores the Pope's desire to continue the dialogue between Christians and Muslims, which has become one of the key directions of his predecessor, Pope Francis's pontificate.
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