23+ hour, 51+ min ago (354+ words) Pope Leo XIV has made his first visit to a mosque since his election, and while he removed his shoes as a sign of respect, he did not appear to pray. On Saturday, Leo went to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, a 17th-century place of worship considered an Ottoman-era architectural masterpiece, with turquoise ceramic tiles adorning its walls and dome. Leo, accompanied by local Muslim leaders, walked through the mosque's courtyard and, after taking off his shoes, was shown around the interior in his white socks. The first American pope, who is a keen Chicago White Sox baseball fan, recently joked that he always wears "white socks." A'g'n Tunca, a Muezzin, said Leo had been invited to pray during his visit. A Muezzin is an official who calls Muslims to prayer and who had been among those showing Leo around…...

3+ day, 23+ hour ago (1357+ words) Pope Leo XIV begins a six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon on Thursday, his first foreign trip since his election and one on which he's expected to emphasize key themes of his fledgling pontificate " among them dialogue and unity. Overseas trips are an important part of the papacy's "soft power," offering an opportunity for the pope to meet political leaders of his host country, address the local Catholic community and focus international media attention on regional issues. By going to Lebanon, Leo is flying into the heart of a conflict-ridden Middle East, and he is due in Beirut just days after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital. For Leo, the visit can give added weight to his appeals for harmony and dialogue in the Middle East, echoing the first words he uttered after his election: "Peace be with you all....

2+ week, 6+ day ago (270+ words) Pope Leo XIV spent almost three hours on Saturday with 15 victims of clerical sexual abuse from Belgium. The Holy See Press Office described the pope's meeting with the survivors, each of whom was abused by a member of the clergy as a minor, as "profound and painful." The office said the meeting took place "in a spirit of closeness, listening & dialogue." The Belgian Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of devastating clerical abuse scandals in recent years, which Pope Francis confronted directly during a visit to Belgium last year, spending more than two hours with survivors. During that visit, then Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo urged Francis in unusually frank terms to take concrete action. The appalling revelations of clerical sexual abuse in Belgium over the past 30 years include the case of a former bishop who abused…...

5+ hour, 32+ min ago (754+ words) The black-clad priest yanked on the white rope. At once the bells began to clang. The evening mass was beginning at the Monastery of Mar Maroun, or Saint Maroun, in the town of Annaya, high in the Lebanese mountains. This monastery overlooking the Mediterranean will be one of the stops on Pope Leo XIV's three-day visit to Lebanon, beginning Sunday. The congregation on this cool late November evening was modest in number but their voices rang out as they sang hymns " including one in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language Jesus is believed to have spoken. Christianity in Lebanon is almost as old as Christianity itself. Yet the community, with roots so deep in this land, increasingly feels its grip slipping. In recent decades many Christians have left, for the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Australia and elsewhere....