Pope Leo XIV embarks on his debut overseas trip Thursday, travelling to Turkey and Lebanon to promote Christian unity and urge peace efforts amid heightened tensions in the Middle East.The six-day trip is the first major international test for the US pope, who was elected head of the Catholic Church in May and whose understated style contrasts with that of his charismatic and impulsive predecessor, Francis.In Turkey, Leo will celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where the Creed — a foundational declaration of the Christian faith — was written.While the Chicago-born pontiff’s upcoming visit has so far garnered little attention in the predominantly Muslim country, where Christians represent only 0.2 percent of the 86 million inhabitants, it is eagerly awaited in Lebanon.Lebanon has long been held up as a model of religious coexistence.But since 2019, it has been ravaged by crises, including economic collapse which has caused widespread poverty, a devastating blast at Beirut port in 2020, and the recent war with Israel.”The Lebanese are tired,” said Vincent Gelot, director of the Lebanon and Syria office for l’Oeuvre d’Orient, a Catholic organisation that supports Christians in the Middle East.”They expect a frank word to the Lebanese elite, as well as strong and concrete actions,” he told AFP.- ‘A vicious cycle’ -Preparations are in full swing at the sites the pope will visit, with signs bearing his image and reading “Lebanon wants peace” hung along newly-restored roads.Lebanon’s ambassador to the Holy See, Fadi Assaf, said it was an “exceptional” visit which would “highlight the difficulties facing Lebanon”, which is hoping for a “political and economic breakthrough”.Gelot said the Lebanese are caught in “a vicious cycle of wars and suffering”, “dashed hopes” and “uncertainty about the future”, and they “know full well that (this visit) will not solve all their problems”.It is an opportunity however to highlight the role of private, often religious, organisations in ensuring access to healthcare and education — like the psychiatric hospital run by Franciscan nuns that Leo is set to visit, he said.Trip highlights include a meeting with the country’s youth, an open-air mass expected to draw 100,000 people, and a prayer at the site of the port explosion that killed over 220 people and caused vast damage to the Lebanese capital.Abdo Abou Kassem, the church’s media coordinator for the visit, said the pope also wishes to “reaffirm Lebanon’s role as… a model for both East and West” through an interreligious meeting in downtown Beirut.- Schisms -The visit to Turkey, a strategic crossroad between East and West, is also aimed at promoting the Church’s dialogue with Islam.Leo will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday and visit the Blue Mosque in Istanbul on Saturday.But at the heart of the trip is the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which Leo was invited to attend by Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual head of Orthodox Christianity.Catholics recognise the universal authority of the pope as head of the Church, while Orthodox Christians are organised into churches that appoint their own heads.The 325 A.D. meeting in Nicaea predated the schisms that divided Christianity between East and West and the commemoration is an important moment to promote Christian unity.On the shores of Lake Iznik, the current name for Nicaea, the 70-year-old will join dignitaries from various Orthodox churches on Friday for a prayer which his predecessor, who died in April, had originally been set to attend.There will be one notable absence. With the war in Ukraine deepening a rift between the patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople, Russian Patriarch Kirill — a supporter of President Vladimir Putin — was not invited.The pope will be careful not to inflame tensions further by irritating Moscow, which fears the Vatican will strengthen Constantinople’s role as a privileged interlocutor and weaken its influence.

Washington and Kyiv said that any eventual deal to halt the war with Russia must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty, after “constructive” talks between US, Ukrainian and European officials in Geneva.After a day of meetings that kicked off based on a US proposal that was criticised as being in Russia’s favour, negotiators have drafted “an updated and refined peace framework”, a US-Ukraine joint statement said on Sunday.US President Donald Trump had given Ukraine until November 27 to approve his plan to end the nearly four-year conflict, which began after Russia launched a full-scale invasion.But Kyiv was seeking changes to the draft that accepted a range of Russia’s hardline demands, with the 28-point plan requiring the invaded country to cede territory, cut its army and pledge never to join NATO.”The talks were constructive, focused, and respectful, underscoring the shared commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace,” the joint statement said.”They reaffirmed that any future agreement must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and deliver a sustainable and just peace,” it said, noting “meaningful progress”.Both sides pledged to keep working on joint proposals “in the coming days.”But even as the White House said in a separate statement that the talks marked “a “significant step forward”, a Russian drone strike on the major Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed four people, its mayor said.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke of “tremendous” progress after a day of meetings, while the head of Ukraine’s delegation Andriy Yermak also told reporters the sides had made “very good progress”.The Ukrainian delegation referred to a new version of the US draft plan, which has yet to be published, saying it “already reflects most of Ukraine’s key priorities”.Rubio, whose delegation included Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff, told reporters that the work to narrow the areas of disagreement had advanced “in a very substantial way”. “I can tell you that the items that remain open are not insurmountable,” he said, adding: “I honestly believe we’ll get there.”Rubio stressed that any final agreement would “have to be agreed upon by the presidents, and there are a couple issues that we need to continue to work on” before trying to bring onboard the Kremlin, which welcomed the original proposal.”Obviously, the Russians get a vote.”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would speak with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Monday. Turkey has hosted three rounds of talks on ending the war.- ‘Zero gratitude’ claim -His comments came after Trump earlier lashed out at Ukraine.”UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, also accusing European countries of not doing enough to stop the war, but offering no direct condemnation of Moscow.Not long after, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X that his country was “grateful to the United States… and personally to President Trump” for the assistance that has been “saving Ukrainian lives”.Announcing a deadly Russian drone strike, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram Sunday it was “truly horrible” that despite the negotiations, “Russian troops are attacking civilian objects, civilian infrastructure, residential buildings”.At the end of the day, Rubio said he thought Trump was “quite pleased at the reports we’ve given him about the amount of progress that’s been made”.Asked about whether he believed a deal could be reached by Thursday, he said “the deadline is we want to get this done as soon as possible”.”I think we made a tremendous amount of progress. I feel very optimistic that we’re going to get there in a very reasonable period of time, very soon.”- European ‘centrality’ -The US plan was drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies, who were scrambling Sunday to make their voices heard and boost Kyiv’s position.EU countries plan to discuss the Ukraine situation on the sidelines of a meeting with African leaders in Angola Monday.”Ukraine must have the freedom and sovereign right to choose its own destiny. They have chosen a European destiny,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement, stressing that the “centrality” of the European Union’s role must be “fully reflected” in any peace plan.A number of leaders called Trump Sunday, with Downing Street saying UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the US president had agreed “that we all must work together at this critical moment to bring about a just and lasting peace”.