Overview
- From Nov. 27 to Dec. 2, the pope will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, join Patriarch Bartholomew I at an İznik commemoration of the Council of Nicaea, and visit Istanbul’s Blue Mosque.
- In Lebanon, the schedule includes an interreligious gathering, an open-air waterfront Mass expected to draw about 100,000 people, and a prayer at the Beirut port blast site, with no travel planned to the south.
- Reuters reports Israel killed Hezbollah’s top military official in a Beirut suburb on Sunday, underscoring security risks close to areas the pope will visit.
- Observers expect Pope Leo to stick to prepared texts and to Vatican Secretariat of State positions by calling for ceasefires and negotiations.
- Russian Patriarch Kirill was not invited to the Nicaea commemoration, reflecting Orthodox tensions tied to the war in Ukraine.