Pope Leo visits Turkey and warns humanity at stake from excessive stage of battle

[ad_1] Aleem Maqbool Faith editor, travelling with Pope Leo XIV

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3989/live/2459bf40-cba1-11f0-84f7-7db748a6619f.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Anadolu via Getty Images Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) welcomes Pope Leo XIV (R) with official ceremony as they walk past soldiers in blue uniforms on a blue carpet" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures Pope Leo (C) was welcomed to Ankara by Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Pope Leo XIV has warned that the world mustn't give into "a heightened stage of battle on the worldwide stage", in the beginning of his overseas journey in Turkey.

"The way forward for humanity is at stake, mentioned the Pope, urging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to behave as a supply of stability due to the necessity to promote dialogue and stability.

The Pope will mark a historic Christian anniversary throughout his go to to Turkey, earlier than heading to Lebanon days after Israeli airstrikes on its capital, Beirut.

The visits had been deliberate by late Pope Francis, however their essential theme of constructing bridges was embraced by Pope Leo from the second he stepped on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica after his election in Might.

Leo warned that at this time's wars had been like a "third world battle fought piecemeal", repeating a phrase that his predecessor had himself used a number of instances, referring to conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Myanmar and elsewhere.

Since he grew to become pontiff six months in the past, he has conveyed a way of being extraordinarily measured, even cautious. However on this journey, his powers of diplomacy might be intently scrutinised.

A key second of the journey will happen within the Turkish city of Iznik, the location of the traditional metropolis of Nicaea. Pope Leo and leaders of different Christian traditions will collect to mark the anniversary of an historical council that befell there 1,700 years in the past. In 325 AD, amongst different key selections, greater than 200 bishops on the council affirmed the assumption that Jesus was the son of God, finally main to what's often known as the Nicene Creed.

Japanese and Western branches of Christianity later dramatically cut up, however throughout this journey there might be messages of togetherness and therapeutic divisions.

In Turkey the Pope will even go to the Blue Mosque, as each his quick predecessors Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI had accomplished. He can have conferences with different non secular leaders in a gesture of inter-religious dialogue earlier than flying on to the second leg of the journey.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/65a3/live/fa57bbf0-cb3e-11f0-a892-01d657345866.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="EPA People rest in the shade in front of Istanbul's Blue Mosque." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> EPA The Pope plans to go to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul

The Vatican says plans for the Pope's go to to Lebanon haven't modified following the Israeli airstrikes on Beirut earlier within the week.

He'll meet extra religion leaders and listen to from younger folks in Lebanon, his go to giving a lift specifically to the estimated third of the nation that's Christian.

On the ultimate day of the journey, Pope Leo will have fun Mass on the Beirut waterfront on the website of the 2020 port explosion, praying for the greater than 200 individuals who had been killed and seven,000 others injured.

Over latest months, although he has spoken out on some points expensive to him such because the dignity of migrants, he has actually not been as overtly political as his predecessor could possibly be.

He has walked such a fantastic line that in some circumstances each progressives and traditionalists throughout the Catholic Church have made the case that he helps their college of thought.

It was for comparable causes that cardinals of various persuasions had been thought to have coalesced round him at conclave.

Pope Francis was seen as a visionary however one who was not overly frightened about creating consensus, abandoning a considerably divided Church. Pope Leo has up to now operated very in another way, gently holding on to a number of the progressive beliefs of his predecessor whereas paying heed to the views of traditionalists.

He has repeatedly known as for an finish to battle, however another way to Pope Francis, who memorably made each day calls to the Holy Household Church in Gaza to supply his help.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d050/live/1613ea00-cb88-11f0-9fb5-5f3a3703a365.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters Pope Leo smiles as he looks towards Erdogan while wearing a white robe with a silver cross on a necklace while standing outside the Presidential Palace on Thursday." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Reuters The Pope met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Thursday

In conferences on this journey - with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Lebanese civic leaders - Pope Leo could also be drawn to touch upon his views on battle within the area.

We could hear one thing of his impressions on the finish of his journey, as it's customary for the Pope to carry a information convention with travelling press on the return flight to Rome.

What we'll hear extra of this journey is a pope talking in a Chicagoan accent.

Though Pope Leo, who speaks a number of languages fluently, has primarily given public addresses in Italian up up to now, the Vatican has confirmed that he'll communicate English all through the Turkish leg of his journey, with some French too throughout his time in Lebanon.