Pope Leo Makes Indications About His November Visit to Turkey While Meeting With The Turkish First Lady

Pope Leo has informed the First Lady of Turkey that he intends to travel there in November.

Pope Leo may soon go abroad for the first time as pope after meeting Turkish First Lady Emine Erdoğan at the Vatican’s apostolic house on Wednesday. 

Ankara and Vatican diplomatic teams are now working on the arrangements of the Pope’s planned visit to Turkey at the end of November, according to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency.

Pope Leo and a senior Turkish official are meeting for the first time since he was elected to succeed the late Pope Francis on May 8. The visit is in line with Francis’s previous plans prior to his death, even if the Vatican has not officially confirmed it or commented on it.

When the First Council of Nicaea, a crucial early Church assembly, celebrated its 1,700th anniversary, the late Pope was getting ready to visit Turkey. Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual head of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, was also scheduled to attend the event with him.

Patriarch Bartholomew suggested in an interview with Italian television after Leo’s election that he and the new Pope had talked about the possible visit, pointing to late November as the most likely time frame.

If approved, the trip would strengthen ecumenical relations between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in addition to being Pope Leo’s first overseas appearance.