Leo XIV: Which countries will he visit?
Since his election, invitations have poured in, including from the two nations where he holds passports: the U.S. and Peru
In the decades before he was elected pope, Leo XIV was a committed globetrotter.
As head of the Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013, he visited religious communities worldwide, including in Australia, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, and the Philippines.
Since his May 8 election, travel invitations have poured in, including from the two where he holds passports: the United States and Peru.
Reports suggest he has no immediate plans to travel outside of Italy, preferring to spend the first months of his pontificate attending to pressing matters at the Holy See (likely including Vatican finances).
But when he does reach the papal in-tray marked “foreign trips,” which invitations might be at the top of the pile?
Turkey
Although Pope Leo currently has no confirmed travel plans, Turkey could be the first country on his agenda.
His predecessor Pope Francis had planned to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Council at the original site in northwestern Turkey, accompanied by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians.
After the Patriarch’s first private audience with Pope Leo May 19, Orthodox circles suggested that a joint commemoration of the Church’s first ecumenical council could occur at the end of November.
The feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, the brother of St. Peter, falls Nov. 30. St. Andrew is considered the founder of the Church of Constantinople, known today as the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Vatican sends a delegation each year to feast day celebrations at the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s headquarters in Istanbul’s Phanar (Fener) district.
Leo XIV could potentially combine a trip to Nicaea — the ancient city located in today’s İznik — with a visit to the Phanar. He would become the fourth pope to visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate on its thronal feast, following Pope John Paul II (1979), Pope Benedict XVI (2006), and Pope Francis (2014).
The U.S.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance personally delivered an invitation May 19 from President Donald Trump to Pope Leo to visit the White House.
Given that Leo XIV is the first U.S.-born pope, there’s a strong expectation that America will be high on his list of travel destinations.