The Latest: Pope Leo XIV to call for Christian unity at site where Nicaean Creed established

Pope Leo XIV marks a high point of his his first foreign trip to Turkey with a pilgrimage to the site where early Christian church leaders met 1,700 years ago under the auspices of the Roman Emperor Constantine to host the Council of Nicaea.

Leo will pray with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at the site of the 325 AD gathering, now the town of Iznik, and sign a joint declaration in a show of Christian unity.

The unprecedented gathering of at least 250 bishops from around the Roman Empire during the first council established the first version of the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that millions of Christians still recite each Sunday. Eastern and Western churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.

The American pope has emphasized a message of peace and a plea to help end wars in Ukraine and Gaza during his Nov. 27 to Dec. 2 trip to Turkey and Lebanon. On Thursday he met in the capital Ankara with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and encouraged Turkey to be a source of stability and dialogue in a world riven by conflict.

Leo then travelled to Istanbul to carry not only his message of unity among Christians at Iznink, located southeast of the city, but also to reinforce the church’s relations with Muslims.

Leo also is due to visit the Blue Mosque and preside over an interfaith meeting in Istanbul.

Here's the latest:

Pope enourages Catholics in Turkey

Pope Leo XIV is encouraging Turkey’s Catholics to look to the future with hope despite their tiny numbers.

There are around 33,000 Catholics in Turkey, a nation of more than 85 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslim. Many of the Catholics are foreigners, including migrants, according to Vatican statistics.

Leo sought to bolster them in his remarks at Istanbul’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, saying the “logic of littleness is the church’s true strength.”

“It does not lie in her resources or structures, nor do the fruits of her mission depend on numbers, economic power or social influence," he said.

Cheers and applause greet pope at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

Excitement filled the exterior and interior of Istanbul’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit as Pope Leo XIV arrived Friday. Worshippers applauded and cheered while the pontiff made his way down the aisle

“I am so excited, to happy to see the pope. This is the first time like I can say to have this opportunity, in Turkey of course, so, no words. With all my heart I am so happy,” said Debora Martina Da Silva, a political science student from Guinea Bissau who is studying in Turkey.

Elias Bogane, a 53-year-old tourist from Luxembourg, said he felt “blessed” to be visiting Turkey at the same time as the pope.

“It’s the first time I come here. For me it was something so special,” Bogane said.

Mateusz Zajdecki, a 21-year-old from Szczecin, Poland, said he regarded the pope’s visit as a chance for unity, prayer and spiritual reflection.

“I think his is very much important, even nowadays to just reflect on our faith, reflect on our spirituality, and just maybe get some results form it," Zajdecki said.

Father Giuseppe Spoto from Matera, Italy, said the Christian community in Turkey is very small and can feel insignificant, but he believes the pope’s presence can encourage them to keep moving forward in their faith.

“Pope Leo can encourage Christianity and the small community that is here to go ahead, to walk in faith and to one day see the fruit that the lord can bring to this land,” he said.

Pope will open day at cathedral and nursing home

Pope Leo XIV is to start the second day of his tour of Turkey and Lebanon meeting bishops and other church officials at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, a 19th-century Baroque church in Istanbul’s Sisli district.

He then is scheduled to visit a nearby nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order founded in France in the 1840s to care for poverty-stricken older people.

Leo to visit Council of Nicaea site

After his stops at the cathedral and nursing home, the pope is set to take a short helicopter ride to Iznik, a town south of Istanbul known in Roman times as Nicaea. It was here that the Council of Nicaea was held in 325 AD to produce the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that millions of Christians still recite each Sunday.