Pope Leo lamented that the world was seeing an unusual number of bloody conflicts during his first trip outside Italy as Catholic leader on Thursday, and he warned that a third world war was being “fought piecemeal”, with humanity’s future at risk.
In his first speech given overseas since his election in May to lead the 1.4 billion-member Church, Leo, the first US pope, said “ambitions and choices that trample on justice and peace” were destabilising the world.
He told political leaders in Turkey that the world was experiencing “a heightened level of conflict on the global level, fuelled by prevailing strategies of economic and military power”.
Trip marks 1,700th anniversary of Nicene Creed
“We must in no way give in to this,” he pleaded at an event with President Tayyip Erdogan after they held a private meeting. “The future of humanity is at stake.”
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Speaking before the pope, Erdogan said that he welcomed the pope’s “astute stance” on the Palestinian issue, and hoped the visit would be beneficial for humanity at a time of tension and uncertainty.
In September, Leo met Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the Vatican and raised the “tragic situation” in Gaza with him.
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The first US pope chose mainly Muslim Turkey as his first overseas destination to mark the 1,700th anniversary of a landmark early Church council there that produced the Nicene Creed, still used by most of the world’s Christians today.