Pope Leo embarks on his first international go to to Turkey with a key message | EUROtoday

Pope Leo XIV embarks on his first international journey this Thursday to Turkey, fulfilling late Pope Francis’ plans to mark a key Orthodox anniversary and convey peace amid essential efforts for Ukraine and Mideast.

Arriving first in Ankara, he’ll meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and deal with the diplomatic corps.

He then strikes to Istanbul for 3 days of ecumenical and interfaith conferences, forward of the Lebanese leg of his journey.

The pontiff’s go to comes as Turkey, a nation of over 85 million predominantly Sunni Muslims, acts as a key middleman in Ukraine and Gaza peace negotiations.

Ankara has hosted Russia-Ukraine talks and supplied to affix a Gaza stabilisation drive to uphold the delicate ceasefire, efforts Pope Leo could applaud.

Reaction in Turkey

Turkey’s rising navy would possibly, boasting NATO’s second-largest military after the US, is drawing Western leaders nearer to President Erdogan.

This engagement persists regardless of critics elevating alarms over his authorities’s suppression of the nation’s predominant opposition get together.

While help for Palestinians and an finish to the battle in Ukraine is prevalent throughout Turkey, the nation’s residents are primarily centered on a extreme cost-of-living disaster.

This financial turmoil, largely stemming from home political instability, means worldwide affairs stay a secondary concern for a lot of Turks.

That might clarify why Leo’s go to has largely escaped the eye of many in Turkey, at the very least exterior the nation’s small Christian neighborhood.

“I didn’t know he was coming. He is welcome,” stated Sukran Celebi. “It could be good if he referred to as for peace on the planet, however I don’t assume it can change something.”

Some said they thought the visit by history’s first American pope was about advancing the interests of the United States, or perhaps to press for the reopening of a Greek Orthodox religious seminary that has become a focal point in the push for religious freedoms in Turkey.

“If the pope is visiting, that means America wants something from Turkey,” said Metin Erdem, a musical instruments shop owner in the touristic Galata district of Istanbul.

Historic anniversary

The main impetus for Leo to travel to Turkey is to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.

Leo will pray with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at the site of the 325 AD gathering, today’s Iznik in northwestern Turkey, and sign a joint declaration in a visible sign of Christian unity.

Eastern and Western churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.

While the visit is timed for the important Catholic-Orthodox anniversary, it will also allow Leo to reinforce the church’s relations with Muslims. Leo is due to visit the Blue Mosque and preside over an interfaith meeting in Istanbul.

Asgın Tunca, a Blue Mosque imam who will be receiving the pope, said the visit would help advance Christian-Muslim ties and dispel popular prejudices about Islam.

“We want to reflect that image by showing the beauty of our religion through our hospitality — that is God’s command,” Tunca said.

Religious freedom in Turkey

Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan’s government has enacted reforms to improve the rights of religious groups, including opening places of worship and returning property that were confiscated.

Still, some Christian groups face legal and bureaucratic problems when trying to register churches, according to a US State Department report on religious freedoms.

The Catholic Church, which counts round 33,000 members in Turkey, has no formal authorized recognition within the nation “and this is the source of many problems,” stated the Rev. Paolo Pugliese, superior of the Capuchin Catholic friars in Turkey.

“But the Catholic Church enjoys a rather notable importance because we have an international profile … and we have the pope holding our backs,” he stated.

Possible tensions

One of the extra delicate moments of Leo’s go to will come Sunday, when he visits the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Istanbul.

The cathedral has hosted all popes who’ve visited Turkey since Paul VI, apart from Francis who visited Turkey in 2014 when its patriarch was sick.

Francis visited him on the hospital, and some months later he tremendously angered Turkey in 2015 when he declared that the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was “the first genocide of the 20th century.” Turkey, which has lengthy denied a genocide occurred, recalled its ambassador to the Holy See in protest.

Leo has tended to be much more prudent than Francis in his public feedback, and utilizing such phrases on Turkish soil would spark a diplomatic incident. But the Vatican can also be navigating a tough second in its ties with Armenia, after its interfaith overtures to Azerbaijan have been criticised.