Advertisement

Elias Turk

Elias Turk

Pope Leo XIV prays in silence at the site of the 2020 port explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 2, 2025. / AIGAV Pool

Pope Leo XIV Prays at Beirut Blast Site, Meets Families Seeking Justice

Pope Leo XIV paused on the final morning of his trip to Lebanon before the ruins of the Beirut port...

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for an estimated 150,000 people at Beirut's Waterfront in Lebanon, on Dec. 2, 2025. / Credit: Marwan Semaan/ACI MENA.

Pope Leo XIV Calls Lebanon to Stand up, Be a Home of Justice and Fraternity

Beirut heard a different kind of voice on Tuesday morning. In a city still marked by the sounds of the...

Pope Leo XIV reflects on the enduring message of St. Charbel Makhlouf at the hermit’s tomb at the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV Entrusts Lebanon to St. Charbel’s Intercession, Prays at His Tomb

Pope Leo XIV began his second day in Lebanon on Monday with a deeply symbolic pilgrimage to the tomb of...

Pope Leo XIV in Harissa, Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV Tells Lebanese Religious Leaders Unity and Peace Are Possible

Pope Leo XIV told Lebanon’s religious leaders on Monday that their country remains a sign to the world that fear...

Pope Leo XIV greets a young mother and her child outside of the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV to Lebanese Youth: Love, Not Retaliation, is the Real Answer to Evil

Pope Leo XIV met Lebanese youth in the square in front of the Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch in Bkerké on...

Pope Leo XIV arrives in Lebanon on November 30, 2025. / Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV Arrives in Lebanon, Bringing a Message of Peace to a Nation Scarred by War

The sky over Lebanon opened Sunday not to warplanes but to the aircraft carrying Pope Leo XIV.

Pope Leo XIV talks to reporters during his flight to Lebanon on Nov. 30, 2025. / Credit: Elias Turk/EWTN News

Pope Leo XIV Says Erdogan Talks Focused on Gaza and Ukraine, Sees Turkish Role in Peace Efforts

Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that he discussed both the Gaza war and the conflict in Ukraine directly with Turkish...

Pope Leo XIV speaks at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, on Nov. 30, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media/Screenshot

Pope Leo XIV Calls Lebanon to Tenacity, Hope, and Reconciliation

Pope Leo XIV urged Lebanon’s leaders to embrace tenacity, dialogue, and a renewed commitment to the common good during an...

Pope Leo XIV visits the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 29, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.

Pope Leo XIV Visits Emblematic Turkish Mosque in Sign of Fraternity with Muslims

Pope Leo XIV started his third day in Turkey on Saturday with a visit to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in...

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople sign a joint declaration at the Palace of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 29, 2025. / Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople "deeply alarmed" by Global Tensions

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople said on Saturday they are “deeply alarmed by the current...

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass at the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 29, 2025. / Screenshot: Vatican Media

At Mass in Turkey, Pope Leo XIV Calls for Catholic, Ecumenical and Interreligious Unity

Pope Leo XIV marked the start of Advent on Saturday with an appeal for unity and peace, telling thousands gathered...

Pope Leo XIV encourages Catholic clergy, religious brothers and sisters, and lay pastoral workers to see the Catholic community’s small size as a strength during an encounter at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 28, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.

Pope Leo XIV Reminds Turkish Catholic Minority of the "logic of littleness"

Pope Leo XIV encouraged Turkey’s small Catholic community Friday to rediscover what he called the Gospel’s “logic of littleness,” urging...

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople at an ecumenical event marking the 1,700th anniversary of Nicene Creed, in Iznik, Turkey, on November 28th, 2025. / Screenshot: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV Marks Nicaea Anniversary, Urges Christians to Overcome Divisions

Pope Leo XIV commemorated the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea on Thursday in the Turkish city historically...

Pope Leo XIV with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Turkey, on November 27, 2025. / Vatican Media

Pope Leo Denounces "might is right" in Address to Turkish Authorities

Pope Leo XIV opened his first international trip on Thursday with a sweeping call for unity, renewed dialogue, and a...

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

Pope Leo XIV to Focus on Christian Unity, Relations with Islam in Turkey and Lebanon

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Turkey Thursday on his first international apostolic journey. The wide-ranging trip — spanning historic ecumenical...

Pope Francis meets political authorities, civil leaders, and diplomats in the Republican Palace in Baghdad on March 5, 2021. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Reveals He Survived Two Threats to His Life in Iraq

Pope Francis has revealed in a new book, “Spera,” that he narrowly escaped two attempts on his life during his...

An Israeli air strike hits the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. / Credit: Mawan Semaan/ACI MENA

Lebanon Crisis Threatens Eastern Catholic Participation at Vatican Synod on Synodality

The Lebanon-Israel situation could diminish the presence of Eastern Catholic patriarchs from Lebanon at the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality, which...