Overview
- The trip runs November 27–December 2 with an official start in Ankara, where Pope León XIV is scheduled to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before continuing to Istanbul.
- Key Turkey events include an ecumenical prayer in Iznik marking the Council of Nicaea anniversary focus, a visit to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, liturgies at Orthodox and Armenian sites, and a joint declaration with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.
- In Lebanon, the program lists separate meetings with national leaders including President Joseph Aoun, visits to Saint Charbel’s tomb in Annaya and the Our Lady of Lebanon shrine in Harissa, and an interreligious gathering in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square.
- The pope is slated to meet Lebanese youth in Bkerké, visit staff and patients at Hospital De La Croix, pray silently at the 2020 Beirut port blast site, and celebrate a concluding Mass on the Beirut waterfront.
- Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni says the themes are ecumenism, peace, and support for Christians, confirms speeches in English in Turkey and in English for civil events and French for religious events in Lebanon, and notes the trip was never considered for postponement despite recent tensions.