Vatican City | Pope Leo XIV will travel to Turkiye and Lebanon next month on the first foreign trip of his papacy, making a symbolically important gesture to Christians and Muslims on a pilgrimage to two countries that Pope Francis had planned to visit.

The Vatican on Tuesday announced that Leo will visit Turkiye from Nov. 27-30, and Lebanon from Nov. 30-Dec. 2. The visit to Turkiye will include a pilgrimage to Iznik to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council.

The anniversary is an important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations, and Francis had planned to mark it with his own trip to Turkiye in May at the invitation of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.

Francis died in April, and Leo said from the start of his papacy that he intended to complete Francis's plans.

The trip will give history's first American pope a chance to speak in broad terms about peace in the Middle East and the plight of Christians there.

Leo, like his predecessor Francis, has consistently called for peace and dialogue in the Middle East, especially as Israel's offensive rages on in Gaza.

The last pope to visit Lebanon was Pope Benedict XVI in September 2012 on what was the last foreign trip of his papacy.

Francis, who died on April 21, had long hoped to visit Lebanon, but the country's political and economic instability prevented a visit during his lifetime.