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As Pope Leo XIV visits the site of the Council of Nicaea, held in 325, we recall the importance of the first Ecumenical Council's proclamation of the Church’s faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, which also established the date for Easter for all Christians.

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On his second day in Türkiye, Pope Leo XIV visits a care home for the elderly run by the Little Sisters of the Poor just outside central Istanbul.

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ANKARA, Turkey (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV began his first papal trip speaking of dialogue, peace and thanksgiving -- referring to both the holiday and his own gratitude.

On the plane to Turkey Nov. 27, he wished a Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans among the 80 journalists traveling with him and told them, "It's a wonderful day to celebrate."

He also received from reporters two pumpkin pies and a pecan pie; he said he would share "part of it."

Pope Leo also was given a baseball bat that had belonged to 1950s White Sox player Nellie Fox.

After expressing his appreciation, the pope asked, "How did you get that through security?" 

During the flight, speaking to the reporters from the front of the economy section of the ITA Airways plane, Pope Leo said, "I want to begin by saying thank you to each and every one of you for the service that you offer to the Vatican, to the Holy See, to my person, but to the whole world. 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."

Landing in Ankara after the flight of almost three hours, Pope Leo fulfilled the dictates of protocol as a visiting head of state, meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Safi Arpagus, the head of the national religious affairs office, known as the Diyanet.

Later, addressing the president, other government officials, members of the diplomatic corps and civic leaders, Pope Leo told them, "Today, more than ever, we need people who will promote dialogue and practice it with firm will and patient resolve." 

After World War II, he said, the world came together and formed the United Nations and other international and regional organizations committed to dialogue, cooperation and conflict resolution.

"We are now experiencing a phase marked by a heightened level of conflict on the global level, fueled by prevailing strategies of economic and military power," Pope Leo said. "This is enabling what Pope Francis called 'a third world war fought piecemeal.'"

"We must in no way give in to this," the pope insisted. "The future of humanity is at stake. The energies and resources absorbed by this destructive dynamic are being diverted from the real challenges that the human family should instead be facing together today, namely peace, the fight against hunger and poverty, health and education, and the protection of creation."

In a land where most people are Muslim, but the constitution officially proclaims the nation secular, Pope Leo praised both the tolerance of religious diversity and the encouragement given to people of all religions to practice their faith.

"In a society like the one here in Turkey, where religion plays a visible role, it is essential to honor the dignity and freedom of all God's children, both men and women, fellow nationals and foreigners, poor and rich," he said.

"We are all children of God, and this has personal, social and political implications," he said, including working for the common good and respecting all people.

Pope Francis, who visited Turkey in 2014, urged all believers in God "to feel the pain of others and to listen to the cry of the poor and of the earth," the pope said. "He thus encouraged us to compassionate action, which is a reflection of the one God who is merciful and compassionate" -- as Muslims frequently repeat -- and "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love," as the Psalms say.

Pope Leo encouraged all people in Turkey and all people of good will to defend social bonds, beginning with the family. 

"People do not obtain greater opportunities or happiness from an individualistic culture, nor by showing contempt for marriage or shunning openness to life," he said.

"Those who scorn fundamental human ties and fail to learn how to bear even their limitations and fragility," he said, "more easily become intolerant and incapable of interacting with our complex world."

Pope Leo asked the people of Turkey to value their diversity, both cultural and religious. And he assured them that the nation's Catholic community -- about 35,000 people or less than 1% of the population -- wants to contribute.

"Uniformity would be an impoverishment," the pope said. "Indeed, a society is alive if it has a plurality, for what makes it a civil society are the bridges that link its people together."

Unfortunately, he said, today "communities are increasingly polarized and torn apart by extreme positions that fragment them."
 

James was a favorite of King Yezdigerd I of Persia and a Christian. He abandoned his religion when Yesdigerd launched a persecution of the Christians. When the king died, James repented of his apostasy and declared himself to be a Christian to the new king, Bahram. When James refused to apostasize, he was executed by having his body cut apart piece by piece, beginning with his fingers (hence his surname Intercisus - cut to pieces), and then beheaded. His feast day is November 27.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Thanksgiving is a "beautiful feast" that reminds everyone to be grateful for the gifts they have been given, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Say thank you to someone," the pope suggested two days before the U.S. holiday when he met reporters outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo before returning to the Vatican after a day off.

Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, was scheduled to spend his Thanksgiving Nov. 27 in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, the first stops on his first foreign trip as pope.

A reporter asked the pope what he was thankful for this year.

"Many things I'm thankful for," he responded.

He described Thanksgiving as "this beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites all people, people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith."

The holiday is an opportunity "to say thank you to someone, to recognize that we all have received so many gifts -- first and foremost, the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of unity, to encourage all people to try and promote peace and harmony and to give thanks to God for the many gifts we have been given." 

Pope Leo was asked about his upcoming trip, particularly about relations with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who will host the pope for several prayer services in addition to having a private meeting and lunch with him.

"This trip was born precisely to celebrate 1,700 years of the Creed of Nicaea, the Council of Nicaea" and what it affirmed about Jesus, the pope said.

In his apostolic letter, "In Unitate Fidei" ("In the Unity of Faith"), published Nov. 23, Pope Leo highlighted the importance of the anniversary and of the Creed that all mainline Christians still share.

"Unity in the faith," he told the reporters, "can also be a source of peace for the whole world." 

Pope Leo also was asked if he was concerned about going to Lebanon when Israel continues to strike what it says are Hezbollah and Hamas positions in Lebanon. Israel said it killed Hezbollah's top military leader Nov. 23 in a suburb of Beirut; Lebanon said the strike killed five other people as well and wounded 28 more.

"It's always a concern," the pope said. "Again, I would invite all people to look for ways to abandon the use of arms as a way of solving problems and to come together, to respect one another, to sit down together at the table, to dialogue and to work together for solutions for the problems that affect us."

"I am very happy to be able to visit Lebanon," the pope said. "The message will be a word of peace, a word of hope, especially this year of the Jubilee of hope."
 

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