“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Leo, the first US pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon.
Pope Leo said on Sunday that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, reaffirming the Vatican’s position.
“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Leo, the first US pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference.
“We are also friends with Israel, and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone,” added the pope, speaking in Italian.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed opposition to a Palestinian state after even its biggest ally the US indicated support for Palestinian independence.
Leo spoke in a brief eight-minute press conference focused on his visit to Turkey, which he visited from Thursday to Sunday on his first overseas trip since his election in May as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attend a meeting with authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps at the National Library of the Presidential Palace, during the pope’s first apostolic journey, in Ankara, Turkey, November 27, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/UMIT BEKTAS)
The pope said he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed both the Israel-Palestinian and Ukraine-Russia conflicts. Turkey has an important role to play helping end both wars, Leo said.
During his visit to Turkey, the pope warned that humanity’s future was at risk because of the world’s unusual number of bloody conflicts and condemned violence in the name of religion.
Leo critical of Israeli military actions in Gaza
Leo, who usually prefers using careful, diplomatic language, ramped up criticism earlier this year of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Turkey is predominantly Muslim but is also home to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.
Leo praised Turkey as an example of religious co-existence.
“People of different religions are able to live in peace,” said the pope. “That is one example of what I think we all would be looking for throughout the world.”
Leo is visiting Lebanon until Tuesday, when he returns to Rome.
Hours before Leo’s arrival, crowds gathered along the roads from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags. He will meet the president and prime minister and make an address, only his second to a foreign government.
Leaders in Lebanon, which hosts 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is also struggling to recover from years of economic crisis, are concerned about how the ongoing armed conflict would exacerbate the issues that Beirut is facing.
His convoy will pass through Beirut’s southern suburbs – an area where Hezbollah holds sway. The group’s Imam Mehdi Scouts are to hold a welcoming ceremony by the roadside as the convoy passes.
Leo, a relative unknown on the world stage before becoming pope in May, is being closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and interacts for the first time with people outside mainly Catholic Italy.
On Saturday, Leo visited Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque, in his first visit as pope to a Muslim place of worship. He removed his shoes as a sign of respect but did not pray at the mosque as planned, which surprised Vatican officials.
The pope attended an Orthodox Christian liturgy on Sunday morning led by Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.
In remarks during the service, which was filled with Greek chants, Bartholomew said the world “expects a unified message of hope from Christians unequivocally condemning war and violence.”
“We cannot be complicit in the bloodshed taking place in Ukraine and other parts of the world,” said the patriarch.
Leo, 70 and in good health, has a crowded itinerary in Lebanon, visiting five cities and towns from Sunday to Tuesday, when he returns to Rome.
His schedule includes a prayer at the site of a 2020 chemical explosion at the Beirut port that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage.
He will also lead an outdoor Mass on the Beirut waterfront and visit a psychiatric hospital, one of the few mental health facilities in Lebanon, where carers and residents are eagerly anticipating his arrival.