Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets the clergy on the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
Domenico Stinellis/AP
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Domenico Stinellis/AP
ISTANBUL, Turkey — Pope Leo XIV inspired Turkey’s tiny Catholic group to search out energy in its small dimension as he launched into the important thing day of his first journey that’s meant to bolster Christians and pursue their centuries-old quest for unity.
Shouts of “Papa Leo” and “Viva il Papa” (Lengthy Reside the pope) erupted together with cheering and clapping inside and out of doors Istanbul’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit as Leo arrived to start his first full day in Turkey.
Leo presided over a prayer with Turkey’s Catholic clergy and nuns earlier than participating in the important thing purpose for his go to, the primary of his hold forth. He’ll commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of one of the crucial essential moments in Christianity: the 325 AD gathering of bishops that produced the Nicaean Creed, an announcement of religion that thousands and thousands of Christians nonetheless recite at the moment.
The gathering occurred at a time when the Jap and Western church buildings had been nonetheless united. They cut up within the Nice Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope. However even at the moment, Catholic, Orthodox and most historic Protestant teams settle for the Nicaean Creed, making it some extent of settlement and probably the most extensively accepted creed in Christendom.
In consequence, celebrating its foundations is a vital marker within the centuries-old quest to re-unite all Christians.
Talking on the cathedral, Leo stated the creed wasn’t merely a doctrinal method, however the “essential core of the Christian faith.”
“Therefore, its development is organic, akin to that of a living reality, gradually bringing to light and expressing more fully the essential heart of the faith,” he stated.
The anniversary commemoration will happen in Iznik, website of the Council of Nicaea gathering, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Istanbul. Presiding with Leo will likely be Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the religious chief of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
Leo arrived in Turkey on Thursday, emphasizing a message of peace as he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is a message he’ll deliver to Lebanon on Sunday, the second and ultimate leg of the journey for historical past’s first American pope.
Pope Leo XIV, proper, talks to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan throughout a gathering with authorities, members of the civil society and diplomats within the Presidential Palace’s nationwide library, in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025.
Yavuz Ozden/AP/DIA Photograph
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Yavuz Ozden/AP/DIA Photograph
On the cathedral on Tuesday, Leo sought to encourage Turkey’s tiny Catholic group, which numbers round 33,000 in a nation of 85 million, most of whom are Sunni Muslims. He praised particularly the church’s work with migrants and newcomers to Turkey.
“The logic of littleness is the church’s true strength,” Leo informed them in English.”The significant presence of migrants and refugees in this country presents the Church with the challenge of welcoming and serving some of the most vulnerable.”
It was a message that resonated with the group exterior, which mirrored the multinational face of the Catholic Church in Turkey.
“With all my heart I am so happy,” stated Debora Martina Da Silva, a political science pupil from Guinea Bissau.
Mateusz Zajdecki, a 21-year-old from Szczecin, Poland, acknowledged the ecumenical significance of Leo’s go to.
“I think it is important for Turkey to (be) united at one table, eucharistic table, and to pray together to one father who is in heaven,” Zajdecki stated.
