Pope Leo XIV’s visits holy sites in Lebanon on Monday that draw Christian and Muslims as he seeks to recognize the importance of the country’s religious pluralism and also send a message to Christians not to abandon the region. Over the past few decades, hundreds of thousands of Christians have left parts of the Middle East for good, driven by wars and the rise of Muslim extremists. Leo arrived in Beirut on Sunday after a visit to Turkiye that began on Nov. 27.

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…

Pope Leo XIV started the second day of his trip to Turkiye with a visit to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on Saturday. Leo was following in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, who…