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On Sunday Sunday, we learned that the Vatican’s Airbus 320, which had poope leo xionia xiv, his ambassador and his 80 journalists in Turkey on Thanksgiving Day, was safe where it was successfully reviewed.
Our flight to Lebanon is open. Hallelujah!
I’ve been there for almost a postal trip as a reporter for Fox News, but in four days on Pope Leo’s First International Pilgrimage – This one takes the cake … or maybe a reference to the pie is more appropriate? Is this peace travel – a walking tour to the Middle East just a pie in the sky?
We certainly had pies in the sky when he left Rome. I was seated next to a colleague who brought pecan pie (which smelled holy, no pun intended) after two years of growing our Chicago pumpkin at home. Papa Leo was over the moon! Our thanksgiving meal was not that exciting but appreciated, served with a menu, real lyrlore and cloth napkins.
Pope Leo xiv begins a visit to Lebanon Addid Crisis, to improve security security
Pope Leo XIV was welcomed by the President of Lebanon and his wife Nehmat Nehmeh when he arrived at Rafic Hariri International Airport, during his first apostolic visit, in Benonson, November. 30, 2025. (Mohammed Yassin / Reuters)
Fast forward to Saturday night, after three days, full of action, in a 4,000 strong crowd in Istanbul of the Ottoman world community (more than 85 million Catholics are Sunni Muslim.)
At the mass, I was sitting next to my colleague Elise Harris, the first one to be given an interview with Pope Leo (he chose a wife, and an American, how cool is that! As Pope Leo passed by the sidewalk next to us with a cloud of incense, he gave us an incomplete ID and blessed us with the sign of the cross. Amazing!
During his time at home, the pope returned to the ways of peace and unity, he even emphasized on Thursday in the capital of Turkey, and on Friday in IstTanbul, when he joined the Orthodox Patriarchs and Ecumenical leaders to commemorate the 1,700 years of the Council of Nicaea.
After that meeting and prayer with patriarch barthiarch bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians in the world, he signed a joint declaration in a show of Christian unity.
But the Pope also spoke about the need for unity with non-Christians. “We live in a world where religion is often used to justify wars and actions,” he said. “We need to appreciate what unites us, breaking down the walls of prejudice and mistrust … to be peacemakers.”
Pope Leo XIV opens the first foreign trip to Turkey with a visit to the first Christian heart
One man who was not invited to meet the Pope in Iznik was Mehmet Ali AGCA, a Turka country who was seriously injured by Pope John PUAL II in Italy and Turkey and now lives in Iznik. He never explained his motive for the assassination attempt, but Turkish media quoted him as saying he hoped to meet Leo “for two or three minutes.” Instead, he was transported out of town.
Sometimes history repeats itself.
Back in 2006, I came to Istanbul for Fox News Radio to cover Pope Benedict XVI’s Cabilatory Thought aimed at ending the power of Germany that he had done “by the sword.”
It was a big deal when Benedict was seen in the blue mosque, the world’s most important mosque, his head bowed and his lips moving. I remember my teaching colleague excitedly coming out of the newsroom, “The Pope is praying!” Yes, yes, you probably do that, I thought – but how can you explain its importance in a second sound piece?
In 2014, Pope Francis again visited the blue mosque and prayed publicly. So it was only natural to think that our new pope would do the same. The Vatican Press Office even said in its daily communication that he had.
But we “Vaticanisti” were inside the Blue day on Saturday morning, having left our shoes at the door and wearing a headscarf, and we saw it was obvious that there were no candles!
Later, the press spokesman, Matteo Bruni clarified that the pope visited the mosque “in silence, in spirit, with deep respect for the place and the faith of those gathered for this prayer.”
That description of the spirit of ‘reflection and respectful listening to others’ actually encapsulates the essence of this 70-year-old convention.
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His first words after being elected to lead the 1.4 billion Catholics and burst onto the world stage six months ago, “peace be with you.”
But it is too early to see whether his message of unity and brotherhood will make a dent in the Middle East’s entanglement-ridden Middle East.
