By Sertac Aktan withAP
Release date
Pope Leo XIV began his first papal visit in Ankara on Thursday, encouraging Turkey to be a source of stability and dialogue in the conflict-torn world.
Upon arriving in Ankara, the American Pope was welcomed by a guard of honor on the tarmac and by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the presidential palace.
Speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and members of the country’s diplomatic corps in the library of the palace complex, Leo praised Turkey’s historical role as a bridge between East and West, religion and culture.
“May Turkey become a source of stability and inter-ethnic intimacy for a just and lasting peace,” he said in front of a giant globe. “Today, more than ever, we need people who promote dialogue and who practice it with firm will and patient determination.”
“The future of humanity is at stake.”
The Turkish government has hosted failed talks between Russia and Ukraine and has also offered to join Gaza’s stabilization force to help monitor the fragile ceasefire.
Although the pope did not specifically address the conflict, he quoted his predecessor, Pope Francis, lamenting that the wars ravaging the world today amount to “a Third World War fought piecemeal,” with resources being spent on armaments rather than fighting hunger and poverty and defending creation.
After two world wars, “we are currently experiencing a phase characterized by an escalation of conflicts at the global level,” he said. “We must not give in to this. The future of humanity is at stake.”
Leo will be the fifth pope to visit Turkey, following Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XIV and Pope Francis. His visit comes at a particularly difficult time in the Middle East region, including a delicate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and recent Israeli offensives in both Beirut and southern Lebanon.
But his main reason for visiting Turkey is to commemorate an important day in Orthodox-Catholic relations: the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of Christianity. In 325 AD, that council hastily produced the first edition of the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is a statement of faith that millions of Christians still recite every Sunday.
A papal visit to mark this anniversary was promised by Pope Francis, who himself did not live to see the day.
On Friday, the pope will join Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew to commemorate the anniversary in Iznik, about 90 kilometers southeast of Istanbul.