Pope Leo XIV receives a Thanksgiving pie on board the papal flight to Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Claudio Lavanga

Rome Newsroom, Nov 27, 2025 / 09:25 am (CNA).

Aboard the papal plane on Thanksgiving Day, Pope Leo XIV kicked off his first international trip — a visit to Turkey — with distinctly American gifts: a baseball bat and pumpkin pie.

“To the Americans here, happy Thanksgiving!” Leo said as he greeted about 80 journalists aboard the chartered ITA Airways flight to Ankara on Thursday morning. “It’s a wonderful day to celebrate.”

Two American journalists traveling with the pope gave him pumpkin pies. “It’s not Thanksgiving if there’s not enough to share,” Crux correspondent Elise Ann Allen told the pope as she handed him the second pie.

“I’ll definitely share some,” Leo responded. The pope had plenty to share as NBC News correspondent Claudio Lavanga also gave him a pecan pie.

Leo, a longtime Chicago White Sox fan, also received a baseball bat once owned by Nellie Fox, the White Sox legend who played for the team from 1950 to 1963, when Leo, then Robert Prevost, was a small child.

Smiling, the pope joked: “How did it get through security?” 

As a collective gift from the Vatican press corps, the pope received a Byzantine-style icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe made by Spanish iconographer Débora Martínez, a missionary in Cyprus. 

The icon, presented by Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki, who has logged more than 170 papal trips, was crafted using classical techniques of Eastern iconography. It depicts the Virgin of Guadalupe in Byzantine style, symbolically linking Latin America’s Marian tradition with the iconography of the Christian East. 

At the start of the nearly three-hour flight, the pope continued a practice of his predecessor Pope Francis of walking down the aisle to greet each journalist. 

Among them was Elias Turk, a journalist from Lebanon who is the Vatican editor for ACI MENA and EWTN News. Turk briefly shared a personal story with the pope, recounting how he lived through part of the 2024 escalation between Hezbollah and Israel and was trapped in Lebanon during the fighting.

“I told him that I lived … a traumatizing experience with my nephews during the war. We had to run and hide inside a house after being in a garden. We heard fighter jets passing in the skies and then powerful explosions,” he explained. The pope listened closely.

Turk, who is godfather to his nephews, asked the pope to bless two rosaries for the children, a 3-year-old and a 1.5-year-old, so they could pray for peace. He also carried a third rosary for a 2-year-old Polish girl who has been repeatedly hospitalized.

In a light moment with another journalist, Pope Leo said he had already completed his daily Wordle game before takeoff, adding that he solved Thursday’s puzzle in three tries.

According to the pope’s brother, Leo plays Wordle every day and his favorite Thanksgiving dish is stuffing.

During his first apostolic trip, taking place Nov. 27–Dec. 2, Leo will visit Turkey and Lebanon.

Pope Leo XIV speaks from the Vatican, Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 27, 2025 / 06:28 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for December is for Christians living amid war or conflict, especially in the Middle East.

“Let us pray that Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation, and hope,” the Holy Father said in a video released Nov. 25 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

Father Cristóbal Fones, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, emphasized that Leo XIV’s request “is a gesture of closeness and hope: a way of saying to the Christians of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and so many other countries that they are not forgotten, that the universal Church walks with them; but also to remind us all that faith grows even in the midst of trials, and that seeds of reconciliation and peace can be born from wounded communities.”

Below is the prayer Pope Leo XIV encourages us to pray in December:

God of peace,
who through the blood of your Son
has reconciled the world to yourself,
today we pray for Christians
living amid wars and violence. 

Even surrounded by pain, may they
never cease to feel the gentle kindness of your presence
and the prayers of their brothers and sisters in faith.

For only through you, and strengthened by fraternal bonds,
can they become the seeds of reconciliation,
builders of hope in ways both small and great,
capable of forgiving and moving forward,
of bridging divides,
and of seeking justice with mercy.

Lord Jesus, who called blessed
those who work for peace,
make us your instruments of peace
even where harmony seems impossible.

Holy Spirit,
source of hope in the darkest times,
sustain the faith of those who suffer and strengthen their hope.
Do not let us fall into indifference,
and make us builders of unity, like Jesus.

Amen.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV blesses rosaries for EWTN News’ Elias Turk aboard the papal plane to Ankara, Turkey, on Nov. 27, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Elias Turk/EWTN News

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2025 / 04:57 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Turkey on Thursday on his first international apostolic journey. The wide-ranging trip — spanning historic ecumenical encounters, deeply symbolic gestures of prayer, and pastoral visits to Christian communities under pressure — is expected to highlight the pope’s priorities of unity, peace, and encouragement across a region marked by both ancient faith and present suffering.

During his flight from Rome, the pope told reporters that he hoped his trip would be an occasion to “proclaim how important peace is throughout the world, and to invite all people to come together, to search for greater unity, greater harmony, and to look for the ways that all men and women can truly be brothers and sisters.”

He also wished American reporters in particular a happy Thanksgiving.

The papal plane arrived in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, around 12:30 p.m. local time. Upon arrival, the pope was scheduled to visit the Atatürk Mausoleum, built in honor of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic. He will then travel to the Presidential Palace for a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and an address to authorities, civil society representatives, and the diplomatic corps. The pope will not remain overnight in Ankara but will continue by air to Istanbul the same day.

Ecumenically focused visit

The visit to Turkey centers on the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea. The pope will participate in an ecumenical prayer service in Iznik, the site of the historic council that articulated Christian teaching on the nature of Christ and affirmed the Nicene Creed. The council also issued disciplinary norms and established a common date for Easter.

During his stay, the pope will take part in several ceremonies and is expected to sign a joint declaration with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. He will also visit Istanbul’s Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

A notable omission from the pope’s itinerary is Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine church-turned-mosque that the Turkish government designated a museum open to all faiths in the 20th century. Pope Francis visited the monument in 2014, on the last papal visit to Turkey, but said he was “deeply pained” when the government turned it back into a mosque six years later. Patriarch Bartholomew also protested the change.

Pope Leo’s visit carries particular significance for Turkey’s small Christian community, which looks to the pope for support and encouragement. The motto for the visit is “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.” The Catholic community has witnessed several attacks in past decades, such as the killing of Father Andrea Santoro in Trabzon in 2006 and the assassination of the apostolic vicar of Anatolia, Bishop Luigi Padovese, in 2010. In 2024, two people attacked Santa Maria Church in Istanbul’s Sariyer district during Mass, leading to the death of one person attending the service. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the last attack.

Christians have also been facing, like the rest of the population, the economic consequences of severe inflation in the Turkish lira, the national currency, in recent years. They have likewise endured the devastating effects of the earthquake that shook southern Turkey in February 2023.

A message of peace for Lebanon

After Turkey, the pope will travel to Lebanon. Speaking to journalists last month, he said he would have there “the opportunity to proclaim once again the message of peace in the Middle East, in a country that has suffered so much.”

Leo’s itinerary in Lebanon highlights both the nation’s deep Christian roots and its recent trauma. The pope will visit the tomb of St. Charbel, a revered Maronite saint, in Annaya, meet with young people outside the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, and spend time in silent prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, which killed more than 236 people and injured over 7,000, according to Human Rights Watch.

Lebanon’s Christian community has endured years of hardship — from the 2019 economic collapse to the 2020 blast, as well as ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah since October 2023. Though weakened by emigration and crisis, Christians remain central to the nation’s political and social life: the president, army commander, and central bank governor must all be Maronite Catholics, and Parliament is evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

Many Lebanese Christians have left the country in search of stability and economic opportunity. For those who remain, the pope’s presence is widely seen as a sign of hope, particularly during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

Image of St. John XXIII above the entrance of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Istanbul. / Credit: Souhail Lawand / ACI MENA

Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon holds both spiritual and historical significance for the Catholic Church and its relations with the Orthodox Church as well as with Islam.

From Nov. 27 — Dec. 2, Pope Leo will visit these historic sites in the first international apostolic journey of his pontificate:

1. Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (Istanbul, Turkey)

The Roman Catholic cathedral was built and officially opened in 1846 and is the seat of the apsotolic vicar of Istanbul. Also known as the St. Esprit Cathedral, this minor basilica contains several relics of saints, including those of the first two popes St. Peter and St. Linus. 

In 1884, Pope Leo XIV donated a relic of St. John Chrysostom, the patron saint of the Apostolic Vicariate of Constantinople, to the cathedral. Since 1967, four popes have visited the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, including St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis.

A statue of Pope Benedict XV was erected inside the cathedral’s courtyard in 1919 in recognition of his dedication to Turkish WWI victims and Armenian Christians killed in the former Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1916. 

2. Archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of St. Neophytus (İznik, Turkey)

This ancient basilica, located around 81 miles southeast of Istanbul, is believed to have been built in 380 atop the site of the first Christian ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine I in 325. The council reaffirmed the Church’s belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and led to the formulation of the Nicene Creed.

The ancient church was built on the site where 16-year-old martyr St. Neophytus was killed for his faith and his refusal to offer sacrifices to pagan gods. Recent site excavations have uncovered graves of people believed to be early Christian martyrs.

3. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Istanbul, Turkey)

One of Istanbul's most important mosques which was built between 1609–1617 on part of the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople, the imperial residence of Christian Emperor Constantine I and the eastern Roman emperors until 1204.   

Two popes have visited the mosque, also known as the “Blue Mosque,” during official apostolic journeys to the country. Benedict XIV visited the mosque in 2006 and Pope Francis visited the religious site in 2012.  

4. Patriarchal Church of St. George (Istanbul, Turkey)

The Eastern Orthodox church was built in 1720 and houses the relics of some of the most venerated saints of ancient Constantinople, including St. Euphemia of Chalcedon.

Since 2004, the patriarchal church has housed the relics of St. Andrew the Apostle, who is venerated for bringing the Christian faith to Byzantium, modern-day Istanbul. The relics of St Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom can also be found at the church.  

5. St. Gregory Lusavorich Orthodox Armenian Church (Istanbul, Turkey)

This Orthodox church, also known as the Patriarchal Church of the Holy Mother of God, is the oldest cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Turkey. 

The Armenian church was originally built in 1391, shortly before the Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Mehmed II, conquered Constantinople in 1453. It was named after Greek Christian St. Gregory the Illuminator, who is revered as the founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church. 

Pope Leo will be the first pope to visit the church which has served as a site of religious worship for generations of Armenian families who have lived in Istanbul for more than 600 years.

6. Patriarchal Church of St. George (Istanbul, Turkey)

Converted from a convent into a church at the beginning of the 17th century, the Greek Orthodox basilica has been rebuilt and reconstructed several times throughout its 425-year history. 

The church is the seat and principal cathedral of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the head of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and spiritual leader of the world’s approximately 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians.

7. Monastery of Saint Maroun (Annaya, Lebanon)

The Lebanese Maronite monastery built in 1828 and became a site of pilgrimage for Christian faithful seeking the spiritual counsel of St. Charbel Makhlouf, who lived in the Annaya monastery and the nearby Sts. Peter and Paul hermitage from 1853 until his death in 1898. 

After the 1965 beatification of Charbel Makhlouf, the Lebanese Maronite Order built a new church near the monastery and consecrated it in 1974 in honor of the holy monk and priest canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1977. It has since been visited by Christian and non-Christian pilgrims inspired by St. Charbel’s holy life.

8. Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon (Harissa, Lebanon)

Built in 1904 to mark the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX, the shrine was inaugurated on the first Sunday of May in 1908, which has since become the annual feast of Our Lady of Lebanon. 

Thousands of Christian and Muslim pilgrims come annually to pray at the shrine, which features an 8.5-meter tall bronze statue of Mary standing on a 21-meter high stone pedestal tower with a spiral staircase, entrusted to the care of the Congregation of Lebanese Missionaries. 

In 1993, a new basilica was built next to the shrine. John Paul II was the first pope to visit Our Lady of Lebanon in 1997, followed by Benedict XVI in 2012. 

9. The Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch (Bkerké, Lebanon)

The head of the Maronite Patriarchate has resided in Bkerké since 1830. Between the 15th–19th centuries, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church resided in the Qannubin Monastery in Lebanon’s Qadisha Valley.

The Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerké was built on the site of a monastery constructed in 1703 by an influential member of the noble Khattar al-Khazen family. By 1779, the monastery was used by the Maronite Church and eventually used as the winter residence of the Maronite Patriarch in 1830. 

The Maronite Church — named after the ascetic St. Maroun who lived in Antioch and died in 410 — has always been in full communion with the Apostolic See. The current Maronite patriarch is Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, O.M.M.

Interior of the Church of Jesus and Mary in Rome, Italy / Credit: Mentnafunangann / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Rome, Italy, Nov 26, 2025 / 10:15 am (CNA).

At a Mass marking 25 years since the Holy See signed a foundational agreement with Slovakia, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch praised the “rich history” of Catholic peoples in Central Europe.

Pope Leo XIV meets with Ukrainian children who were welcomed by Caritas Italy during the summer on July 3, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

At the forefront of the work of repatriation and recovery of Ukrainian children swept up in the country’s war with Russia is Caritas Ukraine.

null / Credit: Patrick Thomas/Shutterstock

EWTN News, Nov 26, 2025 / 05:00 am (CNA).

Slovenia rejected euthanasia legislation in a Nov. 23 referendum, with 53% voting against the law backed by Catholic bishops and civil groups.

Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2025. / Credit: VALERY HACHE/Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 17:01 pm (CNA).

Prince Albert II of Monaco has announced that he will not sign into law a bill that aims to relax the conditions for accessing abortion in the European microstate.

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EWTN News, Nov 24, 2025 / 16:08 pm (CNA).

Published on Oct. 30, the document is intended to serve as an orientation aid for Catholic and other schools in Germany.

The Chapel of Christ the King at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. / Credit: Courtesy of Christendom College

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 23, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 following his encyclical Quas Primas. Today it is celebrated on the final Sunday before Advent.