Pope Leo used his visit to Turkey on Friday to remind the global church that faith should never be used as a shield for conflict or extreme behaviour, urging believers to choose reconciliation over hostility.
Addressing worshippers during a major commemoration in Iznik, he said the world’s tensions demand a renewed commitment to speaking with one another and recognising every person’s dignity.
Leo said the moment called for people of all backgrounds to reach across their differences and work toward a peaceful future.
“The whole of humanity afflicted by violence and conflict is crying out for reconciliation,” he said, stressing the need to see one another as part of a shared human community. “There is a universal fraternity of men and women regardless of ethnicity, nationality, religion or personal perspectives.”
He noted that faith traditions already hold the values needed to strengthen cooperation. “Religions, by their very nature, are repositories of this truth and should encourage individuals, groups, and peoples to recognise this and put it into practice,” he added.
Leo delivered his message while joining Patriarch Bartholomew and leaders from various churches; including Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant churches and Eastern Catholic churches, for events marking 1700 years since the Council of Nicaea.
The gathering was held outdoors beside the lake overlooking the submerged Basilica of Saint Neophytos, where thousands of years of Christian history remain preserved beneath the water.
The pope is on his first diplomatic trip abroad, a tour he has used to urge unity and honest dialogue at a time he says the world is sharply divided. At the ceremony, Leo repeated a firm warning that religion must never be exploited as justification for harm or division.
“We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism,” he reflected. “Instead, the paths to follow are those of fraternal encounter, dialogue, and cooperation.”
Leo travelled to Iznik by military helicopter from the north of Istanbul, retracing the route that links today’s church leadership to one of early Christianity’s most defining gatherings.
The original council, held in 325 AD, led to the first form of the Nicene Creed—today recited by Christians across numerous denominations as a shared declaration of belief.
After completing the programme in Iznik, Leo is expected to continue to Istanbul for a private meeting with bishops at the Apostolic Delegation, the residence that housed the Holy See’s representative in Turkey before diplomatic functions moved to the capital.
