Pope Leo prays for unity at historic Nicaea site

Ruth Sherlock

Durrie Bouscaren

November 28, 2025 / 7:53 am

IZNIK, Turkey —On the second day of his inaugural foreign trip, Pope Leo XIV visited the site where early Christian leaders met 1,700 years ago for the First Council of Nicaea — the gathering that produced the creed still spoken in churches today.

The first American pope prayed alongside Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians, amid the archaeological ruins of the lakeside church where bishops met in 325 to resolve divisions threatening to tear the early Church apart.

"We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism," Pope Leo said in his speech at t

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