By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Commemorating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its Creed, as well as reaffirming hopes for peace in the Middle East, Pope Leo XIV will travel to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2.
The Vatican released the itinerary for Pope Leo’s first foreign trip Oct. 27.
The trip to Iznik, Turkey, site of the ancient Nicaea, initially was planned for Pope Francis. But Pope Leo, just days after his election in May, announced his intention to commemorate the anniversary with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
In his interview in July with Crux, the pope said he had requested that the celebration be broadened to include other Christian leaders because the Council of Nicaea took place “before the different divisions” in Christianity and because in the Creed “we can all still find a common profession of faith.”
Patriarch Bartholomew announced at a liturgy in Istanbul Oct. 22 that he had invited the three other patriarchs of the ancient “pentarchy” to join him and the pope for the Nicaea celebration, according to the Orthodox Times website. The heads of churches invited are: Greek Orthodox Patriarchs Theophilos III of Jerusalem, Theodore II of Alexandria and John X of Antioch.
Maronite Bishop Mounir Khairallah of Batrun, Lebanon, told Vatican News Oct. 21 that while the trip to Turkey would be an important opportunity for dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, the visit to Lebanon — “a country afflicted by conflicts and by economic, political and humanitarian crises” — would be an opportunity to speak about and give witness to peace on a geopolitical level.
Bishop Khairallah said Pope Francis had promised to visit Lebanon once the country had a president. Joseph Aoun, the country’s former army commander, was elected in January, ending a two-year political deadlock that left the nation without a president.
While in Lebanon, the pope will stop for silent prayer at the site of 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.
