Photos highlight Pope Leo XIV’s first overseas pilgrimage
Pope Leo XIV boards a plane in Rome's Fiumicino airport on his way to Turkey and Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
With his foreign trip to Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV will become the first American pope on the road. The journey fulfills a visit Pope Francis had hoped to make before his health declined, and it gives Leo a prominent platform to speak about peace in the Middle East. In a notable shift from the Vatican’s traditional use of Italian, he will address audiences exclusively in English while in Turkey and in both English and French during his time in Lebanon.
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
The airplane taking Pope Leo XIV to a six-day trip to Turkey and Lebanon is ready for takeoff in Rome’s Fiumicino airport, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)Pope Leo XIV greets reporters aboard a flight on his way to Ankara, Turkey, for a six-day trip to Turkey and Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, Pool)A Turkish honor guard prepares ahead of the arrival of the papal plane carrying Pope Leo XIV at Esenboga International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, marking the start of his first foreign trip. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)Pope Leo XIV reviews a honor guard as he arrives at the Esenboga international airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)Pope Leo XIV is escorted by security members upon his arrival at Esenboga International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, marking the beginning of his first foreign trip. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)Pope Leo XIV is flanked by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he arrives at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)Pope Leo XIV is flanked by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he arrives at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)Pope Leo XIV poses a wreath at the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)Pope Leo XIV, flanked by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, and his wife Emine, leaves at the end of a meeting with authorities, members of the civil society and diplomats in the Presidential Palace’s national library, in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with authorities, members of the civil society and diplomats in the Presidential Palace’s national library, in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)Pope Leo XIV, right, talks to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting with authorities, members of the civil society and diplomats in the Presidential Palace’s national library, in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)An aerial view shows the area where Pope Leo XIV will hold a Holy mass during his visit to Lebanon, at the waterfront of downtown Beirut, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)Lebanese army soldiers set chairs in preparation of the area where Pope Leo XIV will hold a Holy mass during his visit to Lebanon, at the waterfront of downtown Beirut, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)A worker sets a billboard displays an image of Pope Leo XIV in preparation of the area where he will holds a Holy mass during his visit to Lebanon, at the waterfront of downtown Beirut, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)Pope Leo XIV peers from a window on board his papal plane bound to Istanbul, at Esenboga International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, during the first of his six-day trip to Turkey and Lebanon. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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