VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will travel to Turkey and Lebanon next month on the first foreign trip of his papacy, making a symbolically important gesture to Christians and Muslims on a pilgrimage to two countries that Pope Francis had planned to visit.

The Vatican on Tuesday announced that Leo will visit Turkey from Nov. 27-30, and Lebanon from Nov. 30-Dec. 2. The visit to Turkey will include a pilgrimage to Iznik to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council.

The anniversary is an important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations, and Francis had planned to mark it with his own trip to Turkey in May at the invitation of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.

Francis died in April, and Leo said from th

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