Leo's final event for the day was a Catholic Mass in Istanbul's Volkswagen Arena for the country's Catholic community, who make up 33,000 in a country of more than 85 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslim.

Pope Leo XIV visits holy sites in Lebanon on Monday, drawing Christians and Muslims. He aims to recognize the country's religious pluralism and encourage Christians not to abandon the region. Over the past few decades,

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Leo paid tribute to the country's tiny Catholic community and also visited a group of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a nursing home in Istanbul.

Pope Leo XIV touched down in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Sunday as he began a three-day visit to the nation at the heart of a Middle East battered by recent conflicts.

The pope, arriving in Lebanon, also encouraged that country’s Christians to stay where they are, despite economic, political and security concerns.

"You have time! You have more time to dream, to plan and to do good," the pope said. "You are the present, and the future is already taking shape in your hands! You have the enthusiasm to change the course of history!

We are in need of someone like the pope to come and give us hope as Christians” at a time of "fear of an unknown future,” said 24-year-old Dima Awwad, one of the delegation