LONDON: Pope Leo XIV’s first-ever foreign visit since becoming pontiff has been marked by messages of hope — and memes.
Leo, who succeeded Pope Francis in May, becoming the first American to be elected to the highest role in Catholic Christianity, arrived in Turkiye on Thursday, before making his way to Lebanon on Sunday.
Shouts of “Papa Leo” and “Viva il Papa” (“Long live the pope”) erupted along with cheering and clapping, inside and outside Istanbul’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit as Leo arrived to begin his first full day in Turkiye on Friday.
But on social media, the reaction was less about theology and more about “aura.”
In the clip, Leo confidently walks past the soldiers, accompanied by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and belts out a crisp, booming, “Merhaba Asker!” (“Greetings, soldiers!”) in Turkish.
