The Vatican then sent out a corrected version of its bulletin about the trip, removing reference to the planned "brief moment of silent prayer," without further explanation.

Pope Leo’s quiet stop at Istanbul’s Blue Mosque underscored the fragile, necessary work of Muslim-Christian dialogue in Turkey, observers said.

Pope Leo XIV has made his first visit to a mosque since his election, and while he removed his shoes as a sign of respect, he did not appear to pray.

As Pope Leo prepares to visit northern Lebanon, Christian border villages in the south feel abandoned and struggle to rebuild after the war with Israel.

The American pope emphasized a message of peace as he arrived in Ankara, welcomed on the tarmac by a military guard of honor and at the presidential palace by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Pope Leo XIV and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople issued a joint call for peace Saturday, condemning violence and urging faithful to work for a better world.

Pope Leo XIV called for Christians to "overcome the scandal of the divisions" that separates Roman Catholics from Eastern Orthodox.

In Istanbul, Pope Leo XIV will meet the patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church to show amity between two of the world’s largest Christian groups.

Pope Leo will meet in Turkey on Friday with Christian leaders from across the Middle East, and is expected to urge unity among denominations divided for centuries during his first overseas trip as leader of the global Catholic Church.