Pope Leo vows to promote peace after visit to Türkiye

Pope Leo XIV has called for renewed efforts towards peace and reconciliation across the Middle East and beyond, as he travelled from Türkiye to Lebanon on Sunday — the final stop of his first overseas trip as head of the Catholic Church.

Speaking to reporters on board his flight, Pope Leo said the Holy See continued to support a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, calling it “the only solution that could offer a resolution to a conflict that is still live.” He acknowledged Israel’s current opposition to the plan but stressed that peace with justice for all remained the ultimate goal.

“The Holy See has for many years publicly endorsed the proposal of a solution of two states,” the pontiff said in Italian. “We are also friends of Israel and we try with both sides to be a voice of mediation that can help get closer to a solution with justice for all.”

He praised Türkiye’s role in promoting dialogue, noting that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had been instrumental in fostering communication between Ukraine and Russia earlier this year. “Today, yet again, there are concrete proposals for peace and we hope that President Erdogan, his relationship with the Presidents of Ukraine, Russia and the United States can help in this sense to promote dialogue, a cease-fire and to see how we can resolve this conflict,” the Pope added.

In a separate statement in English, Pope Leo described his visit to Türkiye — and his onward journey to Lebanon — as a mission of peace. “To have come to Türkiye and of course now to Lebanon on this trip there was, if you will, a special theme of being a messenger of peace, of wanting to promote peace throughout the region,” he said. “In spite of religious and ethnic differences, people can indeed live in peace.”

The Pope praised Türkiye’s coexistence between Muslim and Christian communities as an example of interfaith harmony. “That is one example, I would say, of what we all would be looking for throughout the world,” he said.

Pope Leo also revealed discussions held during his visit to Nicea, the historic city where the first ecumenical council was convened in 325 AD. He announced plans for a potential inter-Christian gathering in 2033 to mark 2000 years since the resurrection of Jesus Christ — a milestone he said “all Christians want to celebrate.”

“The idea has been accepted,” he said. “We don’t have an official invitation yet, but we would like to celebrate it, for example, in Jerusalem in 2033 — this great event of resurrection.”

In Türkiye, Pope Leo had earlier warned that humanity’s future was at risk due to the “unusual number of bloody conflicts” around the world, denouncing violence committed in the name of religion.

Upon his arrival in Beirut, large crowds lined the roads from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags. Lebanon — home to the largest proportion of Christians in the Middle East — has been heavily affected by the spillover from the Gaza conflict, as Israel and Hezbollah entered into months of confrontation, culminating in a devastating Israeli offensive.

The pontiff will meet Lebanon’s president and prime minister later on Sunday and is expected to deliver an address — only his second to a foreign government since assuming the papacy — focusing on peace, unity, and the need for dialogue across the region.

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