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Pope Leo XIV on Friday joined Orthodox patriarchs and other Christian leaders in commemorating an important moment in Christian history, gathering at the site in Türkiye of an unprecedented A.D. 325 meeting of bishops to pray that Christians might once again be reunited.
Speaking at the landmark event with Christian leaders from across the Middle East, Leo condemned violence in the name of religion, urging them to overcome centuries of heated divisions.
At a celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of a major Church council with senior clerics from countries including Türkiye, Egypt, Syria and Israel, he called it a scandal that the world’s 2.6 billion Christians were not more united.
“Today, the whole of humanity, afflicted by violence and conflict, is crying out for reconciliation,” Leo said at a ceremony in the Turkish town of Iznik, once known as Nicaea, where early churchmen created the Nicene Creed still used by most Christians today.
“We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism,” said Leo, the first U.S. pope. “The paths to follow are those of fraternal encounter, dialogue and cooperation.”
Friday’s ceremony, at which the Church leaders prayed in English, Greek and Arabic and lit candles near the underwater ruins of a fourth-century basilica, is the main reason for Leo’s three-day visit to Türkiye.
Leo, a relative unknown on the world stage before becoming pope in May, is being closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and interacts for the first time with people outside mainly Catholic Italy.
Christians were largely united during their first millennium, but began dividing into different denominations with the East-West Schism of 1054, when the Orthodox and Catholic communities split from one another.
Other divisions roiled Christianity in later centuries, including the Protestant Reformation, which sparked a series of bloody wars across Europe.
Leo told the clerics on Friday that if Christians could overcome their differences, it would offer “a message of peace and universal fraternity that transcends the boundaries of our communities and nations.”
Hundreds of excited onlookers gathered at the lakeside site where the event took place.
Also attending the ceremony at Iznik, 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul, was Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.
In his welcoming remarks, Istanbul-based Bartholomew urged Christian leaders not only to remember the past but to “move forward” together.
Leo flew by helicopter to Iznik from Istanbul to take part in the prayer, the highlight of his visit to Türkiye. He arrived just after the Muslim call to prayer rang out from a nearby mosque.
Celebrating the origins of the Nicaea gathering at the site of its creation with the spiritual leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches and other Christian representatives marked a historic moment in the centuries-old quest to reunite all Christians.
In Iznik, the Christian leaders were to light candles and pray at the lakeside archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of Saint Neophytos in a service featuring alternating Catholic and Orthodox hymns.
Leo arrived in Türkiye on Thursday, emphasizing a message of peace as he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It’s a message he’ll bring to Lebanon on Sunday, the second and final leg of the trip for history’s first American pope.
Iznik resident Süleyman Bulut, 35, acknowledged his town’s deep historical and spiritual significance for Christians and said he had no issue with them coming to honor their heritage. “Muslims (too) should go and visit places that belong to us in the rest of the world, in Europe,” he said.
Leo began his first full day in Istanbul by encouraging Türkiye’s tiny Catholic community to find strength in their small numbers. According to Vatican statistics, Catholics number around 33,000 in a nation of 85 million, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.
“The logic of littleness is the church’s true strength,” Leo told 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.”
He received a raucous welcome at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, where he was greeted with shouts of “Papa Leo” and “Viva il Papa” (Long Live the Pope).
Leo later visited with a group of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a nursing home in Istanbul.
“He was so simple. We just felt he was at home. He felt very much at ease. Everybody got what they expected: a blessing, a kind word. It’s just enormous,” said Sister Margret of the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home.
On Saturday, Leo continues his trip by meeting with Bartholomew and other Christian leaders. But he’ll also visit the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly known as the Blue Mosque, and will celebrate a late afternoon Mass in Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena.
He travels on Sunday to Lebanon, the second and final leg of his trip.
