https://arab.news/zwjen
Pope Leo XIV’s much-anticipated visit to Turkiye — his first official foreign trip as pontiff — has both diplomatic and religio-historic importance.
Paul VI became the first pope to visit Turkey in 1967, following the establishment of relations between the Holy See and Ankara seven years earlier. This is the fifth papal visit since that landmark trip.
Leo arrived in Turkiye on Thursday and will stay until Sunday, with a busy itinerary. Traditionally, papal visits to Turkiye have had two main stops: Ankara and Istanbul. In Ankara, meetings with officials are held, in which discussions mainly focus on regional and international humanitarian issues. While in Istanbul, meetings are held with religious figures and community members.
In this visit, Ankara was the pope’s first stop. There, he visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkiye, and was then welcomed with an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
