Pope Leo XIV will be visiting Turkey for his first foreign trip as the head of the Catholic Church. CBS News' Chris Livesay reports.

Istanbul

Pope Leo XIV is set to embark on his first foreign trip as pontiff, visiting Turkey and Lebanon. The journey will begin with meetings with religious and political leaders in Turkey, followed by a mass in Lebanon at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion. 

The visit is considered highly significant as it marks the first time an American Pope travels abroad, with observers closely watching his conduct. Pope Leo will also commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and express solidarity with Christian communities in both countries, emphasizing a message of peace and dialogue amid recent regional tensions.

Pope Leo XIV will visit Turkey for his first foreign trip

Welcome back. Pope Leo is expected to take a message of peace and unity to Turkey and Lebanon for his first trip overseas. The pontiff will leave for Turkey tomorrow. He'll meet with religious and political leaders there and then head to Lebanon where he'll say mass at the site of the deadly 2020 port explosion in Beirut. CBS News foreign correspondent Chris Lifsay is in Rome following this story for us and joins us now. Chris, good morning. How significant is this trip for Pope Leo? Hey, Errol. Well, in many ways, it's his most significant trip because it's his first trip as Pope. Everybody's going to be watching Pope Leo, the first American Pope, to see exactly how he carries himself when he's outside of his comfort zone here at St. Peter's or within Italy. It's also significant just to see him, how he interacts with the press. He's not gonna have anywhere to hide for the next five, six days with the press actually traveling on board the Papal airplane. Of course, there are serious matters waiting for him when he gets to Turkey and to Lebanon. In Lebanon, for instance, that is a country that has been riddled by violence. As recently as this weekend, a top Hezbollah commander was struck by Israel. That is just a week before Pope Leo gets there. And he had some words to say about this message of peace that he brings on every one of his trips, but especially meaningful on this one. Here's what he had to say. I would invite all people to look for ways to abandon the use of arms as a way of solving problems and to come together, to respect one another, to sit down together at the table to dialogue and to work together for solutions for the problems that affect. Now he's also going to Turkey, of course. That is to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which took place there. It's when many core beliefs of Christianity were established. It's also a beleaguered Christian community in both of these countries. So expressing solidarity with them is also going to be a very important part of his trip, Errol. Yeah, and we'll watch this trip closely. Chris, let's stay in Rome for us. Chris, thank you.

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