Pope Leo arrived in Turkey on his first trip outside Italy as leader of the Catholic Church and was expected to make appeals for peace in the Middle East and urge unity among long-divided Christian churches.
The first US pope chose mainly Muslim Turkey as his first overseas destination to mark the 1,700th anniversary of a landmark early Church council there that produced the Nicene Creed, still used by most of the world's Christians today, reported Reuters.
Leo landed in the capital Ankara at 12:22 p.m. (0922 GMT) for what is a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkey before heading on to Lebanon. It will be closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and visits sensitive cultural sites.
Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who follows the Vatican, told the news agency, "It's a very important trip because we do not know much yet about Leo's geopolitical views, and this is the first big chance for him to make them clear.”
Foreign travel has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes attracting international attention as they lead events with crowds sometimes in the millions, give foreign policy speeches and conduct international diplomacy.
Leo was elected in May by the world's Catholic cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis. A relative unknown on the world stage before his election, Leo spent decades as a missionary in Peru and only became a Vatican official in 2023.
