Turkey is preparing for the visit of Pope Leo XIV between November 27 and 30 to the country, where the pope will visit Ankara, Bursa and Istanbul.
This will be the first apostolic visit abroad by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since his election to this post in May this year. After Turkey, the Pope will also visit Lebanon, where he will stay until December 2.
Although the occasion for the Pope's visit is the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (today's Turkish city of Iznik), the official program of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV also includes meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials.
According to a Vatican statement on the visit, the Pope will first arrive in the Turkish capital Ankara on November 27. He will visit the mausoleum of the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and then meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, before departing for Istanbul that evening.
On the morning of November 28, the Holy Father will visit the Cathedral of the "Holy Spirit" in Şişli, the second largest Roman Catholic church in the city on the Bosphorus after the Basilica of "San Antonio". The cathedral has also been visited by Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis during their visits to Turkey, according to the bilingual "Agos" newspaper, which is published in Turkish and Armenian.
On the same day, the Pope and his entourage will travel by helicopter to the city of Iznik, Bursa province, where the Council of Nicaea took place in 325 - a key moment in the history of Christianity and in the formulation of Christian doctrine. It is believed to have taken place on the site of the Basilica of Saint Neophyte, about 20 meters from the shore of Lake Iznik in the Bursa district, where there are now archaeological excavations.
The program during the day will also include the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.
In Istanbul, Pope Leo XIV will visit the Sultan Ahmet Mosque the next day - November 29 - and meet with representatives of the Christian communities in Turkey.
One of the highlights of the Pope's visit will be his meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, which is considered an important message for peace and inter-church dialogue. The two will sign a joint declaration and make a joint statement.
The Pope will also participate in the service, which will be held in the patriarchal church.
From Istanbul, the Pope will travel to Beirut.
A delegation of 38 priests and nuns from the Vatican recently visited the Turkish province of Bursa, where they held a series of meetings in preparation for the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV.
The Pope's visit, which for the first time includes the cities of Bursa and Iznik (previous papal visits were limited to Ankara and Istanbul), has pleased travel agencies in particular.
"It is expected that about 2,000 Christian clergy from all over the world will come to the visit of the new Pope to Iznik in the province of Bursa. Media and journalists from nearly 50 countries will also cover the event and broadcast it live. This will promote this region worldwide. We expect it to increase interest and travel to our country and especially to this region," Murat Saracoglu, the chairman of the South Marmara Regional Council of the Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB), told Anadolu Agency.
The Haber Global newspaper commented that "the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Nicaea, which is expected to be attended "as a host" by Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, is being closely and carefully monitored by Turkey.
The Turkish authorities do not recognize Bartholomew's title of "Ecumenical Patriarch" and are sensitive to attributing to Bartholomew a status other than that of head of the Greek Orthodox community in Turkey, as he has according to the wording of the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty.