“To the Americans here: Happy Thanksgiving!” said Pope Leo XIV as he appeared, smiling and waving, from behind the curtains that divide the different sections of the papal plane, around 20 minutes after takeoff from Rome's Fiumicino Airport.

“It’s a wonderful day to celebrate, and I want to begin by saying thank you to each and every one of you for the service that you offer to the Vatican, to the Holy See, and to my person, but also to the whole world,” he said to the over 80 journalists on board the flight to Ankara, the first stop of his first Apostolic Journey that will bring him to Türkiye and Lebanon from November 27 to December 2.

“It’s so important today that the message be transmitted in a way that really reveals the truth and the harmony that the world needs,” he continued. “In a special way, this particular trip to Türkiye and to Lebanon has, first of all, the very meaning of unity, celebrating 1,700 years from the Council of Nicaea.”

Despite having travelled to many countries as Prior of the Augustinians, this will be his first time in both nations. The Pope said he was looking forward to this visit because of what it means for Christians but also for the entire world in terms of promoting peace.

“In a special way, the presence of myself, of the Church, of believers in both Türkiye and in Lebanon, we hope to also announce, transmit, and proclaim how important peace is throughout the world and to invite all people to come together to search for greater unity and greater harmony and to look for the ways that all men and women can truly be brothers and sisters, in spite of differences, in spite of different religions, in spite of different beliefs.”

He expressed his hope that everyone can “be a part of promoting peace and unity throughout the world,” and he again thanked the press corps for their service and “for being part of this historic moment.”

Laughs, gifts and jokes

The excitement was palpable amongst the journalists representing media outlets from around the world. Reporters, video journalists, and photographers greeted him with cell phones, microphones, and cameras in hand, standing and leaning over their seats to try and get a better glimpse.

Valentinza Alazraki, a veteran Mexican journalist, has been on more than 163 papal trips, starting with the one to Mexico with Pope John Paul II in 1979. She welcomed the Pope on behalf of all the press and gave him a Byzantine-style icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe, “for a Pope from North America but with a Latin American heart.”

Pope Leo then greeted the journalists one-by-one manoeuvring through the tight aisle of the plane, exchanging handshakes, laughs, jokes and taking photos. Many journalists brought him gifts, such as pumpkin pie to mark Thanksgiving and a kit with slippers and socks of the Pope’s favorite baseball team, the Chicago White Sox.

Another reporter brought him a baseball bat—a family heirloom, which belonged to Nellie Fox, a famous American player from the 1950s. “How did this pass security?” Pope Leo XIV joked. One journalist offered the Pope two picture frames with a collage of photos gathered from his childhood and his time as a missionary.

A particularly heartfelt gift came from Eva Fernández, correspondent for the Spanish Radio, COPE, who gave the Pope a letter written by Ignacio Gonzálvez, a 15-year-old who participated in the Jubilee of Youth in August and has since been hospitalized at the Holy See’s Children’s Hospital with an aggressive lymphoma.

The Pope had asked the faithful to pray for him during his meeting with youth at Tor Vergata, in Rome, this summer, and then visited the teenager and his family in the hospital. Ms. Fernández also gave the Pope the coat of arms of her Spanish ancestors.

Another journalist gave the Pope a parchment from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Kharkiv, thanking the Holy Father for the assistance he has provided to the Ukrainian people suffering from the war. Lastly, when speaking to a journalist of Algerian origin, he told her that he hopes to visit the country.

Arriving in Türkiye

After a short flight, Pope Leo landed in Ankara, Türkiye, at 12:22pm local time—touching down in the first city of his inaugural Apostolic Journey.

The Pope was welcomed with an official ceremony at the Esenboğa International Airport after the Apostolic Nuncio and the Chief of Protocol of the country greeted the Holy Father aboard the plane.

Upon his arrival in the capital, Ankara, the Holy Father visits the Atatürk Mausoleum, the final resting place of the founder and first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

He will meet with the nation’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, before addressing Turkish authorities, representatives of civil society, and members of the diplomatic corps. At the end of the day, the Pope will travel by plane from Ankara to Istanbul, Türkiye’s largest city.

The motto of the trip to Türkiye is “One Lord, one faith, one baptism”, with an emphasis on building fraternity and dialogue between East and West.