ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Pope Leo XIV encouraged Turkey to be a source of stability and dialogue in a world riven by conflict, as he opened his first foreign trip as pope on Thursday with a plea for peace amid efforts to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

The American pope emphasized a message of peace as he arrived in Ankara , welcomed on the tarmac by a military guard of honor and at the presidential palace by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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