Pope Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon on first foreign trip, says he'll bring message of peace

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday his first foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon next month, would provide a historic opportunity to promote Christian unity while bringing a message of peace and hope to Lebanon's long-suffering people and the broader Middle East.

Leo outlined the trip, announced by the Vatican Tuesday on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, during an encounter with reporters as he left the papal country estate south of Rome.

Leo will travel first to Turkey from Nov. 27-30, then Lebanon from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. The trip to Turkey will include a pilgrimage to Iznik to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, Christianity's first ecumenical council.

The anniversary is an important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations, since the 325 A.D. Nicea meeting predates the schisms that divided Christianity’s East from West and is accepted by Catholic and Orthodox churches alike.

Leo told reporters as he left the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday that the anniversary offered “a moment of authentic unity in the faith” with Orthodox Christians, “a historic moment not to look back but to look forward.”

Francis had planned to mark it with his own trip to Turkey in May at the invitation of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. Francis died in April, and Leo said from the start of his pontificate that he intended to fulfill Francis' plans.

The trip will give the first American pope a chance to speak in broad terms about peace in the Middle East and the plight of Christians there.

Leo told reporters he was also fulfilling a wish of Francis to go to Lebanon to embrace its people and bring a message of hope and “peace in the Middle East, and in a country that has suffered so much.”

Francis had long hoped to visit Lebanon, but the country’s political and economic instability prevented a visit during his lifetime. The Mediterranean nation of around 6 million, including more than 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees, has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East and is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.

However, the Vatican fears the country’s instability has been particularly dangerous for the continued presence of its Christian community, a bulwark for the church in the Mideast.

Lebanon is currently struggling to recover after years of economic crisis and a bruising war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that ended with a U.S. and France-brokered ceasefire in November. Formation of a new, reformist government ended a two-year political vacuum and brought hopes of recovery but the situation remains tense.

Israel has continued to occupy five strategic points on the Lebanese side of the border and carry out near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from regrouping. Hezbollah is under increasing domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal but has refused to do so until Israel withdraws and halts its strikes. There are fears of civil conflict if Lebanese authorities attempt to forcibly disarm the group.

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï, leader of Lebanon’s Maronite Church, said Lebanon awaited the pope's visit with “great joy and renewed hope.”

“We hope that this apostolic visit to Lebanon will bring peace and stability and be a sign of unity for all Lebanese, Christians and Muslims alike, at this critical stage in our nation’s history,” he said in a statement.

The last pope to visit Lebanon was Pope Benedict XVI in September 2012 on what was the last foreign trip of his papacy.

About one-third of Lebanon’s population is believed to be Christian, though there is no official number since there hasn’t been an official census since 1932. The Maronites are the largest and most powerful sect and, by convention, Lebanon’s president is always a Maronite Christian.

The pope's trip was announced as Israel marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks and criticized the Vatican for what it considered to be problematic comments about the anniversary by the Vatican’s top diplomat.

In an interview with Vatican Media, Cardinal Pietro Parolin had condemned the “inhuman massacre” of innocent people in Israel by Hamas and the rise of antisemitism. But he also said Israel’s razing of Gaza was itself a disproportionate massacre, and called on countries to stop supplying Israel weapons to wage the war.

In a statement Tuesday on X, the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See said Parolin’s interview, “though surely well-intentioned, risks undermining efforts to both end the war in Gaza and counter rising antisemitism.”

It criticized his “problematic use of moral equivalence” by referring to massacres on both sides.

Leo declined to enter into the dispute on Tuesday. He has consistently called for peace and dialogue in the Middle East, especially as Israel’s offensive rages on in Gaza, and repeated that on Tuesday. He condemned the Oct. 7 attacks as “terrorism” and said terrorist groups were unacceptable.

But he also cited the 67,000 Palestinians killed in Israel's war in Gaza as evidence of “how much hatred exists in the world."

“It makes you think about how much violence and evil humans are capable of," he said. "We must reduce hatred, we must return to the ability to dialogue, to seek peaceful solutions.”

Winfield contributed from Rome.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from Croatia in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from Croatia in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from Croatia in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from Croatia in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV blesses a child at the end of a Mass for the Jubilee of Migrants and Missionaries in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV rides on his popemobile next to a Palestinian flag at the end of a Mass for the Jubilee of Migrants and Missionaries in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV waves from his popemobile at the end of a Mass for the Jubilee of Migrants and Missionaries in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, An independent counsel has requested the death sentence over that charge, and the Seoul Central District Court will decide on that in a ruling on Feb. 19.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

In Friday’s case, the Seoul court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him and fabricating the martial law proclamation. He was also sentenced for sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting, which deprived some Cabinet members who were not convened of their rights to deliberate on his decree.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a heavy punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also said restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.

Even if Yoon is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial, he may still face other prison sentences in the multiple smaller trials he faces.

Some observers say Yoon is likely retaining a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.

On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.

No major violence occurred, but Yoon's decree caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea in decades and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.

After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)