Pope Leo XIV sets off to meet Erdogan

Pope Leo XIV set off for Turkey yesterday on the first overseas trip of his papacy, a visit that includes a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and comes amid acute regional tensions.

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Pope Leo XIV boards a plane for Ankara for his first apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon, in Rome yesterday.

(AFP)

The trip, which will continue to Lebanon, begins in the Turkish capital Ankara, where the first American pope was expected to arrive shortly after midday. There, he was to address authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps before travelling to Istanbul in the early evening.

Pope Leo's first journey abroad will be closely scrutinised by global media, with more than 80 journalists accompanying him on his papal plane.

Since his election in May as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, the pope has shown a strong command of media engagement, speaking to reporters weekly. In a sign of his wish to reach a wide audience, he will deliver all speeches on this trip in English, his native language, rather than Italian, which he usually uses.

His first address in Turkey is expected to focus on dialogue with Islam in a country where Christians make up just 0.1% of the 86 million inhabitants — most of whom are Sunni Muslims.