ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is planning to visit Lebanon this year on his first foreign visit, the country’s Catholic cardinal said, a trip that would give history’s first American pope a chance to speak in broad terms about peace in the Middle East and the plight of Christians there.

A visit to Lebanon could be the second leg of a planned visit to Turkey at the end of November to commemorate an important anniversary with the Orthodox Church.

Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, the patriarch of the Lebanese Maronite faithful, told the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that Leo “will visit Lebanon.”

“It’s unclear to be honest when he will visit, but he will visit anytime from now until December,” the cardinal said when asked about a possible visit. “There needs to be an agreement from the Vatican on when

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