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Pope Leo XIV arrived successful Turkiye connected Thursday (November 27, 2025) connected his archetypal overseas trip, fulfilling Pope Francis' plans to people an important Christian day and bring a connection of bid to the portion astatine a important clip successful efforts to extremity the warfare successful Ukraine and easiness Mideast tensions.
Pope Leo's charter level landed astatine Ankara's planetary airport.
Later, helium had a gathering planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a code to the country's diplomatic corps. He'll past determination precocious connected Thursday (November 27, 2025) connected to Istanbul for 3 days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that volition beryllium followed by the Lebanese limb of his trip.
Pope Leo's sojourn comes arsenic Turkiye, a state of much than 85 cardinal radical of predominantly Sunni Muslims, has formed itself arsenic a cardinal intermediary successful bid negotiations for the conflicts successful Ukraine and Gaza.
Ankara has hosted rounds of low-level talks betwixt Russia and Ukraine and has offered to instrumentality portion successful the stabilisation unit successful Gaza to assistance uphold the fragile ceasefire, engagements Leo whitethorn applaud successful his accomplishment speech.
Reaction successful Turkiye
Turkiye's increasing subject weight, arsenic NATO's largest service aft the U.S., has been drafting Western leaders person to Erdogan adjacent arsenic critics pass of his crackdown connected the country's main absorption party.
Though enactment for Palestinians and an extremity to the warfare successful Ukraine is wide successful Turkiye, for Turks who look an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, owing to marketplace turmoil induced by shake-ups successful home politics, planetary authorities is simply a secondary concern.
That could explicate wherefore Pope Leo's sojourn has mostly escaped the attraction of galore successful Turkiye, astatine slightest extracurricular the country's tiny Christian community.
“I didn't cognize helium was coming. He is welcome,” said Sukran Celebi. “It would beryllium bully if helium called for bid successful the world, but I don't deliberation it volition alteration anything."
Some said they thought the sojourn by history's archetypal American pope was astir advancing the interests of the United States, oregon possibly to property for the reopening of a Greek Orthodox spiritual seminary that has go a focal constituent successful the propulsion for spiritual freedoms successful Turkiye.
“If the pope is visiting, that means America wants thing from Turkiye,” said Metin Erdem, a philharmonic instruments store proprietor successful the touristic Galata territory of Istanbul.
Historic anniversary
The main impetus for Pope Leo to question to Turkiye is to people the 1,700th day of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity's archetypal ecumenical council.
Pope Leo volition commune with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual person of the world's Orthodox Christians, astatine the tract of the 325 AD gathering, today's Iznik successful northwestern Turkiye, and motion a associated declaration successful a disposable motion of Christian unity.
Eastern and Western churches were agreed until the Great Schism of 1054, a disagreement precipitated mostly by disagreements implicit the primacy of the pope.
While the sojourn is timed for the important Catholic-Orthodox anniversary, it volition besides let Leo to reenforce the church's relations with Muslims. Leo is owed to sojourn the Blue Mosque and preside implicit an interfaith gathering successful Istanbul.
Asgin Tunca, a Blue Mosque imam who volition beryllium receiving the pope, said the sojourn would assistance beforehand Christian-Muslim ties and dispel fashionable prejudices astir Islam.
“We privation to bespeak that representation by showing the quality of our religion done our hospitality — that is God's command,” Tunca said.
Religious state successful Turkiye
Since coming to powerfulness successful 2002, Erdogan's authorities has enacted reforms to amended the rights of spiritual groups, including opening places of worship and returning spot that were confiscated.
Still, immoderate Christian groups look ineligible and bureaucratic problems erstwhile trying to registry churches, according to a US State Department study connected spiritual freedoms.
The Catholic Church, which counts astir 33,000 members successful Turkiye, has nary ceremonial ineligible designation successful the state “and this is the root of galore problems,” said the Rev. Paolo Pugliese, superior of the Capuchin Catholic friars successful Turkiye.
“But the Catholic Church enjoys a alternatively notable value due to the fact that we person an planetary illustration ... and we person the pope holding our backs,” helium said.
Possible tensions
One of the much delicate moments of Leo's sojourn volition travel Sunday, erstwhile helium visits the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral successful Istanbul. The cathedral has hosted each popes who person visited Turkiye since Paul VI, with the objection of Francis who visited Turkiye successful 2014 erstwhile its patriarch was sick.
Francis visited him astatine the hospital, and a fewer months aboriginal helium greatly angered Turkiye successful 2015 erstwhile helium declared that the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was “the archetypal genocide of the 20th century.”
Turkiye, which has agelong denied a genocide took place, recalled its ambassador to the Holy See successful protest.
Leo has tended to beryllium acold much prudent than Francis successful his nationalist comments, and utilizing specified presumption connected Turkish ungraded would spark a diplomatic incident. But the Vatican is besides navigating a hard infinitesimal successful its ties with Armenia, aft its interfaith overtures to Azerbaijan person been criticised.
