Pope Leo XIV is preparing for a trip to Turkey to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the Aleteia news website reported on Monday.
The visit, expected to take place in the coming months, was originally planned by Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as a symbolic gesture of Christian unity.
Pope Leo confirmed the preparations during an audience with 6,000 media professionals at the Vatican, Aleteia said.
The Council of Nicaea, held in 325 A.D. in what is now İznik, Turkey, was the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church and produced the Nicene Creed, a central profession of faith.
The meeting between the pope and the Orthodox patriarch is seen as a step toward reconciliation between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, which have been divided since the Great Schism of 1054.
Pope Leo’s comments mark the first public confirmation that he intends to carry out one of Francis’ final planned initiatives.
No official date has been announced, but the event had originally been considered for late May, aligning with the historical timing of the council’s opening.
The new pontiff, the first American pope in history, indicated that the trip to Turkey is a priority, while ruling out any immediate visits to the United States or to Fatima, Portugal.
Speaking with journalists, he responded warmly to informal questions and accepted several symbolic gifts, including a baseball and a relic of John Paul I.
He also joked about tennis and his preference for the Chicago White Sox, offering a glimpse of his personal style.
In the same address Pope Leo called for the release of imprisoned journalists, expressing solidarity with those jailed “for seeking and reporting the truth,” according to the BBC.
He said their suffering “challenges the conscience of nations” and emphasized that press freedom must be defended.
The pope urged the media to reject division and fanaticism and instead amplify the voice of the voiceless.