ANKARA, Turkey — Pope Leo XIV encouraged Turkey to be a source of stability and dialogue in a world riven by conflict, as he opened his first foreign trip as pope on Thursday with a plea for peace amid efforts to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

The American pope emphasized a message of peace as he arrived in Ankara, welcomed on the tarmac by a military guard of honor and at the presidential palace by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Speaking to Erdogan and the country’s diplomatic corps at a library in the palace complex, Leo praised Turkey’s historic role as a bridge between East and West, at the crossroads of religions and cultures.

“May Turkey be a source of stability and rapprochement between peoples, in service of a just and lasting peace,” he said, speaking in front of a giant globe.

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