Just shy of seven months into his papacy, Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, will take off on his first international trip on Thursday – Thanksgiving Day – travelling to Turkey and Lebanon for a six-day tour.
The choice of the pope’s first foreign destination is always watched closely for clues to his global priorities. Early in his papacy, observers wondered if Leo, who was elected in May, might select the United States, his homeland; Peru, the country where he served for two decades as a missionary and bishop and was naturalised as a citizen; or perhaps Algeria, the birthplace of St Augustine, the namesake of the religious order that Leo once led.
Instead he will head to a war-torn region wracked by religious divisions, providing him with the deepest diplomatic and geopolitical challenges of his tenure so far.
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