Spanish
The first international trip of Pope Leo XIV will be to Turkey and Lebanon from November 27 to December 2, the Vatican press office reported this Tuesday.
The first stage of this journey will begin with a pilgrimage to Iznik on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, where it will remain until the 30th, and will subsequently move to Lebanon until December 2nd.
The Vatican announced that the detailed program of the trip will be released at a later date.
Nicea, today the city of Iznik, about 100 kilometers southeast of Istanbul, hosted in the year 325 the first ecumenical council in the history of Christianity, convened by Emperor Constantine I.
This trip had been scheduled by Francisco for May, but the Argentinian pontiff passed away in April at the age of 88.
The trip to Lebanon had been another of Francisco's dreams, but it was always postponed due to the political situation in the country.
Francisco visited Turkey in 2014, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while the last pope to visit Lebanon was Benedict XVI, in September 2012.
