Pope Leo struggles to unveil a plaque commemorating his visit to Turkey:: Istanbul, Turkey:: November 28, 2025Church staff and security personnel rushed to help him pull down the curtain which was covering the plaque on the wall and had snagged on the marble.

Leo XIV’s trip this week to Turkey and Lebanon, his first abroad as pope, is viewed as a sign of hope in a region struggling with violence and division.

Pope Leo XIV visited the Nursing Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Istanbul on Friday, telling the community that Christian charity begins not with doing, but with being, i.e., living a real communion with those one serves.

As Pope Leo XIV, the first American leader of the Catholic Church, embarked on his first foreign trip, CBS News' Chris Livesay presented the pontiff with a very American family heirloom.