Pope Leo XIV’s first overseas trip will take him to two ancient, historic lands, both lands of the Bible and of the early Church. But Turkey and Lebanon are connected to each other by a difficult, shared past and present sharp contrasts today. 

Ottoman Turkey ruled what is now Lebanon for more than 400 years, and Ottoman rule on Mount Lebanon ended in 1918, amid a wartime famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people, most of them Maronite Christians.  

Turkey today is a dynamic, growing “middle power” aggressively projecting its influence, including in Africa and Central Asia. It is a key NATO member and plays an important mediating role in various conflicts, while intervening in others. The country’s leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is seen as both a capable visionary and power player and an intolerant authoritarian figure cracking down on internal political dissent.