VATICAN CITY: Preparations are underway for Pope Leo XIV to travel to Turkiye and Lebanon at the end of November in what would be his first trip abroad, Vatican sources told AFP.
The two-stage trip would likely last just under a week, AFP understands. The Vatican does not normally confirm official visits until closer to the time.
It would mark the first foreign trip for the US-born pontiff since he became head of the world’s Catholics in May.
Leo said in July that he hoped to visit the Turkish city Iznik for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea this year, a milestone in Church history.
A spokesman for the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, confirmed to AFP he has invited the pontiff to Istanbul for an event on November 29.
