At his public audience on November 26, Pope Leo XIV asked the faithful to pray for the success of his apostolic voyage to Turkey and Lebanon, which begins on Thursday.
The trip—the first foreign travel of this pontificate—will be highlighted by an ecumenical celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. Pope Leo will also attend the celebration of the Divine Liturgy with Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I on November 30, the feast of St. Andrew, the patron of the Constantinople archdiocese.
From Turkey the Pope will fly to Lebanon, where he will pray at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion. He will visit several Catholic shrines, as well as the seat of the Maronite Catholic patriarchate, before returning to Rome on December 2.