Pope Leo begins his first papal journey today

Motoko Rich, New York Times

Thursday, November 27, 2025

Just shy of seven months into his papacy, Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, will take off on his first international trip on Thanksgiving Day, traveling to Turkey and Lebanon for a six-day tour. He will head to a war-torn region wracked by religious divisions, providing him with the deepest diplomatic and geopolitical challenges of his tenure so far. He will meet with religious leaders inside and outside the church, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Joseph Aoun in Lebanon. He will rally the faithful as he visits hospitals and says Mass in an arena in Istanbul and at the port in Beirut that was ravaged by an explosion in 2020.