‘Third World War puts us all in peril’ warns Pope
Pope Leo says a third world war the ‘future of humanity is at stake’, during a visit to Turkey, his first trip abroad as Pope.
A third world war is being “fought piecemeal” and the “future of humanity is at stake”, Leo XIV has said during his first trip abroad as Pope.
Speaking in Ankara after meeting President Erdogan of Turkey on Thursday (local time), the Pope said the world was being destabilised by “ambitions and choices that trample on justice and peace”.
He said: “We must in no way give in to this. The future of humanity is at stake.”
The Pope did not specifically refer to the wars in Ukraine or Gaza but was believed to be referring to them. Erdogan, who has hosted talks with Russia and Ukraine and offered to take part in the stabilisation force in Gaza, praised the Pope’s calls for peace.
He added: “We commend [the Pope’s] astute stance on the Palestinian issue. Our debt to the Palestinian people is justice and the foundation of this is to immediately implement the vision of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. Similarly, preserving the historic status of Jerusalem is crucial.”
During his four-day trip to the country the Pope, who arrived on Thursday, is expected to strengthen ties with the Orthodox Church in Turkey.
He will also celebrate Mass in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, days after it was hit by an Israeli missile. He will head to Iznik on Friday to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, where the basic tenets of Christianity were established in AD325.
The council, which was arranged by the emperor Constantine who had legalised Christianity a decade earlier, brought together bishops who ruled that Jesus was the son of God. The Catholic and Orthodox churches split in 1054 over cultural and theological disputes but that core belief is still shared by the two faiths, as well as Protestants.
In an apostolic letter released on Sunday, the Pope wrote about the Nicene Creed, which says that Jesus was “begotten not made”. Leo said the statement of belief was the “basis and reference point” for unity among all Christians.
He will pray at Iznik, in northwestern Turkey, with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, before visiting Istanbul on Sunday to see the Blue Mosque and celebrate Mass at the Volkswagen Arena. He will then visit Lebanon for three days, culminating on Tuesday with a prayer at the memorial in Beirut to more than 200 people who were killed in 2020 when fertiliser stored at the port exploded, devastating parts of the capital city.
Since then, the Catholic Church in Lebanon has continued to push for accountability for the explosion even as investigations have petered as a result of political push-back.
After his visit to the port, the Pope will celebrate Mass for about 100,000 people in Beirut, including 3,000 Catholics from Syria.
The Vatican has played down threats to the Pope’s safety in the city, despite Israel having killed a Hezbollah official and four other people in an airstrike on Sunday. In a break from tradition, the American Pope will deliver his speeches in Turkey in English and his speeches in Lebanon in English and French. Popes have conventionally delivered such addresses in Italian.
Leo will hold a press conference with journalists on his plane during his flight home on Tuesday, as is customary for popes returning from foreign trips. The Pope has so far proved to be less outspoken than his predecessor, Francis, who when asked about homosexuals during his first foreign trip in 2013, said: “Who am I to judge?”
Leo has already broken with tradition by taking questions from waiting journalists during his weekly visits to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, where he has delivered tough criticism of President Trump’s round-up of illegal migrants in the United States.
The Times
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