Pope Leo flies to Turkey on closely watched first overseas trip

Pope Leo set off on Thursday on his first trip outside Italy as leader of the Catholic Church, leaving Rome for Turkey, where he was expected to make appeals for peace in the Middle East and urge unity among long-divided Christian churches.



The first U.S. 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.



Leo, who has a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkey before heading on to Lebanon, will be closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and visits sensitive cultural sites.



"It's a very important trip because we do not know much yet about Leo's geopolitical views, and this is the first big chance for him to make them clear," Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who follows the Vatican, told Reuters.



Foreign travel has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes attracting international attention as they lead events with crowds sometimes in the millions, give foreign policy speeches and conduct international diplomacy.