Pope Leo XIV is set to embark on his first trip abroad with a visit to Turkey, marking a key event in Catholic and Orthodox Christianity.

During his visit, which begins on Thursday, Leo is scheduled to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and join Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in commemorating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, in a pilgrimage honoring Christianity’s theological roots.

He will then travel to Lebanon for the second leg of his trip.

The visit to Lebanon, set begin on Sunday, comes as part of Pope Leo's first official foreign trip and as the fulfillment of a promise made by his predecessor, Pope Francis, to visit Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian. 

Leo will also visit Turkey.

The fourth visit by a pope to Lebanon, it sends a powerful message of support at a time when regional instability and deepening internal crises have left the country in a precarious situation.

Since 2019, Lebanon has been battered by political unrest, the collapse of its currency and banking system, the port explosion and, most recently, a war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

The war decimated large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, leaving more than 4,000 dead, including hundreds of civilians, and causing an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction.

Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that took effect in November 2024, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in southern Lebanon — and, occasionally, in the suburbs of the capital.

Many in southern Lebanon were disappointed that the pontiff's itinerary did not include a visit to their war-battered areas.

AP video by Paolo Santalucia