Vatican confirms papal trip to Turkey, Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV's first papal trip abroad will be to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2, the Vatican press office announced.

The trip was built around Pope Francis' promise to join Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the beginnings of the Nicene Creed, recited by all mainline Christians.

While not releasing a detailed itinerary for the trip, the Vatican said Oct. 7 that Pope Leo would be in Turkey Nov. 27-30, and his visit would "include a pilgrimage to Iznik," the modern site of the ancient Nicaea.

In an interview in July with the Catholic online news outlet Crux, Pope Leo said that while initial plans were for the Nicaea celebration to be mainly a joint pilgrimage of the pope and patriarch, he requested that it involve other Christian leaders as well. The drafting of the Creed occurred "before the different divisions took place" and so is "a common profession of faith."

The pope also could go to Ankara, the Turkish capital, to meet government officials and fulfill elements of diplomatic protocol as the leader of the Holy See. And in the past, popes have gone to the Phanar, the headquarters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, for the Nov. 30 celebration of the feast of St. Andrew, the patron saint of the patriarchate.

The Vatican also said that "in response to the invitation of the Head of State and Ecclesiastical Authorities of Lebanon," Pope Leo would go from Turkey to Lebanon Nov. 30-Dec. 2.

In addition to visiting government and church officials, the pope is expected to commemorate in some way the 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut, which killed more than 200 people, injured some 7,000 others and displaced more than 300,000. Many of those killed were Christians because the port is near predominantly Christian neighborhoods.