The Pope's visit was expected to be a “demanding” schedule packed with meetings with political and religious leaders amid heightened Middle East tensions.
In Turkey, a country with a Muslim majority and home to an estimated 36,000 Catholics, the Chicago-born pontiff, who was elected in May, will first meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, The Guardian reported.
He will also meet Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians, for celebrations of the 1,700th anniversary of a major early church council in Nicaea, now İznik, which settled ideological disputes.
Leo’s arrival is especially anticipated in Lebanon, where many fear a deepening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah after an Israeli strike earlier this week on a neighborhood in southern Beirut that killed four Hezbollah operatives and one of the group’s most senior military commanders.
Leo’s predecessor, Francis, who died in April, had planned to visit both countries but was unable to because of ill health.
Leo is considered more of a moderate, low-key operator than the charismatic but often divisive Francis, and the choice of Turkey and Lebanon for his first overseas trip is highly strategic, while also presenting an opportunity for the pope to show the world his style and personality.
MA/PR
Your Comment