Pope Leo XIV departs from Rome to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first foreign trip

(27 Nov 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome Fiumicino International Airport - 27 November 2025
1. Pope Leo XIV arriving in vehicle and greeting officials on tarmac before departure
2. Pope climbing stairs, greeting airline crew, waving and entering plane
3. Pope greeting pilots in cockpit, pull out to wide of other officials boarding

STORYLINE:
Pope Leo XIV is heading to Turkey on Thursday on his first foreign trip, fulfilling the late Pope Francis’ plans to mark an important Orthodox anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time for efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions.

Leo is arriving first in Ankara, where he has a meeting planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a speech to the country’s diplomatic corps. He’ll then move on to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his trip.

Leo’s visit comes as Turkey, a country of more than 85 million people of predominantly Sunni Muslims, has cast itself as a key intermediary in peace negotiations for the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Ankara has hosted rounds of low-level talks between Russia and Ukraine and has offered to take part in the stabilization force in Gaza to help uphold the fragile ceasefire, engagements Leo may applaud in his arrival speech.

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