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Pope Leo XIV has received a raucous welcome from the country’s Catholic community
Nicole Winfield,Andrew WilksFriday 28 November 2025 08:56 GMT
open image in galleryPope Leo XIV visits the Little Sisters of the Poor in a Home for the elderly, in Istanbul on 28 November (AFP via Getty Images)
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Pope Leo XIV began his first full day in Turkey with an enthusiastic reception from the nation's small Catholic community.
Cheers of "Papa Leo" and "Viva il Papa" greeted him at Istanbul’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, marking the start of a visit aimed at bolstering Christians globally and pursuing centuries-old unity.
His Holiness met with Turkish Catholic clergy and nuns before addressing the central purpose of his trip.
He is set to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of a pivotal moment in Christian history: the 325 AD gathering of bishops that formulated the Nicaean Creed, a foundational statement of faith still recited by millions.
The Nicaean Creed holds significant ecumenical importance, accepted by Catholic, Orthodox, and most historic Protestant denominations.
Despite later doctrinal schisms, Nicaea remains a crucial point of consensus and the most universally embraced creed within Christendom.
open image in galleryPope Leo XIV arrives for a meeting with the clergy at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, in Istanbul (Associated Press)As a result, celebrating its foundations is an important marker in the centuries-old quest to unite all Christians.
The anniversary commemoration will take place in Iznik, site of the Council of Nicaea gathering, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Istanbul. Presiding with Leo will be Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.
Leo arrived in Turkey on Thursday, emphasising a message of peace as he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
His Holiness will travel to Lebanon where he will try to boost a long-suffering Christian community as well as Lebanese of all faiths who are still demanding justice over the 2020 Beirut port blast.
On his last day on 2 December, he will spend time in silent prayer at the site of the 4 August, 2020, Beirut port blast.
The explosion tore through the Lebanese capital, killing at least 218 people, wounding more than 6,000 and devastating large swaths of Beirut. Sparked when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse, the blast caused billions of dollars in damage.
open image in galleryThe Faithful gather, waiting for the departure of Pope Leo XIV from the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, following a meeting with members of the clergy and lay people (Getty Images)Lebanese citizens were enraged by the blast, which appeared to be the result of government negligence, coming on top of an economic crisis spurred by decades of corruption and financial crimes.
But an investigation has repeatedly stalled, and five years on, no official has been convicted.
There are hopes among Lebanese that Leo will demand accountability from Lebanon’s political class, and insist that there can be no peace without truth and justice.
Leo will not visit Lebanon’s south, battered by last year’s war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the site of intensified Israeli strikes in recent weeks. Christians groups in southern Lebanon had lobbied for the pope to visit the area and circulated a new petition just this week.
