The footage you are seeing on screen is now part of history: Pope Leo XIV, inside the ITA Airways flight, greets the journalists before beginning his first apostolic journey.
POPE LEO XIV
It's so important today that the message be transmitted in a way that really reveals the truth and the harmony that the world needs. And in a special way, this particular trip to Turkey and to Lebanon has, as you know, first of all, the very meaning of unity, celebrating 1700 years since the Council of Nicaea, and I very much have been looking forward to this trip because of what it means for all Christians.
During the flight, he received various gifts from some of the journalists traveling with him on this first apostolic trip, including this special one: a baseball bat.
He also received the coat of arms of his great-great-grandparents from Cantabria, in Spain.
Excitement grew among the crew, the journalists, and all the staff accompanying the Pope on his first trip.
The plane took off from Fiumicino Airport at 7:58 a.m. Rome time and landed at 12:30 p.m. in Ankara, Turkey time.
There, Pope Leo was received by the Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey and several authorities.
After the welcome, he traveled to the Atatürk Mausoleum, the first official visit scheduled on the trip’s agenda.
Under the motto “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” on the morning of Thursday, November 27, Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey began.
In doing so, the Pope fulfills the wish of his predecessor, Pope Francis, to visit Turkey to celebrate the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, marking 1700 years.
Trans. CRT
