By choosing to make his first trip as pope to Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV will shine a huge spotlight on the faith Christians share and on the yearnings for peace and prosperity common to all people.
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics to join him in praying that members of different religions would work together to make life better for everyone rather than allowing their different beliefs to be used “as weapons or walls.”
Meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I during his apostolic visit to the U.S. was “incredible” and marked a “historic moment of Christian unity,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia.
When people of different religions work together to serve people in need, they show the world that faith promotes peace and not hostility, Pope Leo XIV said.
Bangladesh’s oldest and largest Catholic pilgrimage, venerating St. Anthony of Padua, drew thousands to the Archdiocese of Dhaka’s shrine for an event that through the years has turned into an interfaith religious gathering.