39+ min ago (1161+ words) Archbishop Sahak II Mashalian, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, leads Sunday Mass at the Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchal Church in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, ahead of the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Turkey. Credit: AP/Khalil Hamra ANKARA, Turkey " Pope Leo XIV is set to pray at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Istanbul on Sunday in a gesture of support for Christian unity and Christian minorities in Turkey. Beyond its ecumenical symbolism, the visit also may signal quiet support of ongoing efforts to heal century-old wounds between Turkey and Armenia, long scarred by mass killings and decades of mistrust, observers note. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians died in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey. Historians widely view the event as genocide. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and those killed were…...

22+ hour, 58+ min ago (506+ words) ISTANBUL, Turkey " Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Saturday at the start of an intense day of meetings and liturgies with Turkey's religious leaders and a Mass for the country's tiny Catholic community. The head of Turkey's Diyanet religious affairs directorate showed Leo the soaring tiled dome of the mosque and the Arabic inscriptions on its columns, as Leo nodded in understanding. The Vatican had said Leo would observe a "brief minute of silent prayer" there, but it wasn't clear if he had. Leo was following in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, who all made high-profile visits to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, as it is officially known, in a gesture of respect to Turkey's Muslim majority. Leo removed his shoes and walked through the carpeted mosque in his white socks. Past popes have also visited the nearby…...

1+ day, 11+ hour ago (327+ words) Pope Leo XIV started the second day of his trip to Turkey with a visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Saturday. This is the pope's first foreign trip. He will also visit Lebanon. Leo, history's first American pope, is expected to speak in broader terms about peace in the Middle East Spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a statement after questions arose about whether Leo prayed in the mosque or not, describing the mosque visit as a silent one to contemplate. Bruni said: "The pope experienced his visit to the mosque in silence, in a spirit of contemplation and listening, with deep respect for the place and the faith of those who gather there in prayer." Past papal visits to the mosque have always raised questions about whether the popes would pray in the Muslim house of worship or merely visit as…...

1+ day, 22+ hour ago (575+ words) ISTANBUL, Turkey " Pope Leo XIV encouraged Turkey's tiny Catholic community to find strength in its small size as he embarked on the key day of his first trip that is meant to bolster Christians and pursue their centuries-old quest for unity. 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 Turkey. Leo presided over a prayer with Turkey's Catholic clergy and nuns before taking part in the key reason for his visit, the first of his pontificate. He will commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of one of the most important moments in Christianity: the 325 AD gathering of bishops that produced the Nicaean Creed, a statement of faith that millions of Christians still recite today....

2+ day, 8+ hour ago (1791+ words) Pope Leo XIV marks a high point of his his first foreign trip to Turkey with a pilgrimage to the site where early Christian church leaders met 1,700 years ago under the auspices of the Roman Emperor Constantine to host the Council of Nicaea. Leo will pray with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, at the site of the A.D. 325 gathering, now the town of Iznik, and sign a joint declaration in a show of Christian unity. The unprecedented gathering of at least 250 bishops from around the Roman Empire during the first council established the first version of the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that millions of Christians still recite each Sunday. Eastern and Western churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope. The American…...

2+ day, 22+ hour ago (329+ words) Pope Leo XIV waves as he boards a plane in Rome's Fiumicino airport on his way to a six-day trip to Turkey and Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Alessandra Tarantino Pope Leo XIV visits Turkey and Lebanon on his first foreign trip, a visit that fulfills the late Pope Francis" plans to mark an important Orthodox anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time for efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions. In Ankara, Leo will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and then travel to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his Nov. 27-Dec. 2 trip. Leo"s main reason for traveling to Turkey is to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity"s first ecumenical…...

3+ day, 10+ hour ago (880+ words) VATICAN CITY " Pope Leo XIV is heading to Turkey on Thursday on his first foreign trip, fulfilling the late Pope Francis" plans to mark an important Orthodox anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time for efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions. Leo is arriving first in Ankara, where he has a meeting planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a speech to the country"s diplomatic corps. He"ll then move on to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his trip. Leo"s visit comes as Turkey, a country of more than 85 million people of predominantly Sunni Muslims, has cast itself as a key intermediary in peace negotiations for the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Ankara…...

3+ day, 13+ hour ago (995+ words) Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. Credit: AP/Alessandra Tarantino Pope Leo XIV's first foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon, will be packed with opportunities to advance relations with two of the Catholic Church's top priorities: Orthodox Christians and Muslims. It will also give history's first American pope the spotlight to speak in broader terms about peace in the Middle East in languages much of the world can understand: He'll speak exclusively in English while in Turkey, and a combination of English and French in Lebanon, in a departure from the Vatican's traditional lingua franca of Italian. Security will be tight, especially after Israel fired a strike in Beirut to target Hezbollah, just days before Leo arrives. Here's a look at some of the expected highlights…...

4+ day, 9+ hour ago (182+ words) Pope Leo XIV arrives for an audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Choirs in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: AP/Alessandra Tarantino CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy " Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday that Thanksgiving was a "beautiful feast" that unites believers and non-believers alike, as he issued a message of thanks ahead of the U.S. holiday. Leo said he was thankful for many things and urged everyone to recognize the gifts they have been given. "First and foremost, the gift of life. The gift of the faith. The gift of unity," he said. He was responding to reporters' questions Tuesday night as he left Castel Gandolfo, where he goes on Mondays and Tuesdays for a rest and to play tennis. He described Thanksgiving as "this beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites…...

4+ day, 12+ hour ago (691+ words) HERRNHUT, Germany " Bright Christmas stars have long been a familiar sight across Germany during the darkest days of the year, but none is more famous " and lately as popular " as the Moravian stars from the eastern village of Herrnhut near the Polish and Czech borders. They come in different sizes and shine in varying colors. They decorate church steeples and apartment windows, and even adorn the chancellery in Berlin during Advent. "It's the symbol of the Star of Bethlehem, which guided the three wise men to the Christ Child in the manger," said Katja Ruppert, managing director of the Herrnhuter Sterne manufacturing company. The stars have been handmade for over 180 years in Herrnhut, which was founded by refugees of the Moravian Church fleeing from the historical provinces of Bohemia and Moravia in what is now the Czech Republic. Members of…...