The Pope lamented this Friday, November 28, that in contemporary culture, even among some believers, Jesus is considered a mere historical figure and not God.
In the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, in Istanbul, Turkey, Leo XIV lamented that Jesus is seen “with human admiration, even with a religious spirit, but without truly considering him as the living and true God present among us”.
“The fact that God, Lord of history, is thus obscured and we limit ourselves to considering him a historical figure, a wise teacher, a prophet who fought for justice, but nothing more. Nicaea reminds us: Christ Jesus is not a figure from the past, he is the Son of God present among us, who guides history towards the future that God promised us”, emphasized the pope.
The leader of the Catholic Church warned of a “return of Arianism, present in current culture and, sometimes, even among the faithful themselves”. Arianism was the position defended by Arius of Alexandria at the Council of Nicaea, which did not consider Jesus as God.
Leo XIV arrived in Türkiye on Thursday for his first international trip.
After official visits and a meeting with the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara, went to the city on the banks of the Bosphorus to continue his agenda.
This Friday, at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, he met with the clergy who represent the small Catholic community, approximately 0.04% of the population, around 33 thousand people, according to data from the Vatican, in a place that was once the center of Christianity and where, just a century ago, there were more than two million believers.
At the entrance to the cathedral, dozens of Catholic faithful, many migrants and a delegation from the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Dallas, United States, who were in the city on pilgrimage, arrived to greet the Pope.
Therefore, Leo XIV reminded them that “this logic of smallness is the true strength of the Church”, because “in fact, this strength does not reside in its resources or structures, nor do the fruits of its mission derive from numerical consensus, economic power or social relevance”.
“The Church that lives in Türkiye is a small community that, however, remains fruitful as a seed and leaven of the Kingdomthe. Therefore, I encourage you to cultivate a spiritual attitude of confident hope, based on faith and union with God”, he added.
The cathedral, opened in 1846, houses the relics of saints, including Saint Peter and Saint Linus, the first two popes. Four popes have visited this basilica: Saint Paul VI, Saint John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.
In the courtyard, there is a statue of Benedict XV, which commemorates his commitment during the First World War to the Turkish victims and Armenian Christians.
The pope especially invited the small Catholic community in Turkey to accompany young people and also to cultivate ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, the transmission of faith to the local population and pastoral service to migrants and refugees.
“The significant presence of migrants and refugees in this country, in fact, presents the Church with the challenge of welcoming and serving those who are among the most vulnerable,” said the pope.
In the afternoon, Leo XIV is expected in Iznik, the ancient Nicaea, south of Istanbul, to celebrate with the Orthodox authorities the 1700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council, which in 325 AD brought together more than 300 bishops from the Roman Empire.
Invited by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, an important figure and the Vatican’s key interlocutor with the Orthodox Church, he will participate in an ecumenical celebration on the banks of Lake Iznik, on the ruins of an ancient submerged basilica.