Pope Leo's First International Trip

Fox News Radio's Jonathan Savage joins us to discuss Pope Leo's first international trip as Pope. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pope Leo the fourteenth embarking has embarked on his first
foreign trip. This is West Michigan's Morning new stee Kelly
and Brett Keita. Jonathan Savage with Fox News Radio in
London on the story this morning, Jonathan, thanks for doing
this today.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello next to talk to you again and.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
To you the same we say to the Pope, talk
to us a little bit about where he is headed
and how he's being received thus far.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
So he traveled on Thanksgiving as so many Americans do,
and he experienced Turkey on Thanksgiving as so many Americans do,
because that was his first stop, the country of Turkey,
and he spent three days there. Today he is in
eleven On. He's there today and tomorrow. In general, his
message on this trip, I guess a joint message peace

(00:49):
and coexistence. Visiting firstly a country with a tiny Catholic
community just about thirty thousand, and in visiting the country
in the Middle East that has the highest percentage of
Cats in Lebanon or a third of people there are
a Christian. So this is an opportunity for Pope Leo
to talk about peace in countries which have been hit

(01:09):
by conflict and talk about faithful coexistence between religions in
a couple.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Places where being an American isn't necessarily something you want
on your resume. So the world, I guess, will sort
of assimilate the fact that he's just the pope. We
kind of hold on the fact that he's the first
American pope. So is there any of that thus far
on this trip, Well, I.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Think that his americanness, if you want to put it
that way, he carries it softly. He's quite softly spoken
in general, but he's come out with some pretty strong
statements on this trip. He was standing next to Turkey's
president and Russia type or do One. I guess, someone
who'd be described as a strong man leader and was
standing next to president or do one. He decried powerful

(01:53):
countries to throw about their economic and military might win
address seeing an event seventeen years since the Council of Nicea,
he said, we must strongly reject the use of religion
for justifying war, violence, fundamentalism or fanaticism. And then, going
further on the plane from Turkey to Lebanon, talking about

(02:16):
the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, he said the solution
had to include a Palestinian State.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
How about the faithful? How are they so far weighing
in about what they're hearing from their pulpe on his
first international trip.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, as you would expect, particularly in Lebanon, he's been
very well received. As motorcade had they were flag waving,
well worsters lining the route. As he went to the
tomb of a Lebanese saint, they were tossing flower petals
and rice at the motorcade. And he is someone who
is I thinks very welcome for Christians in Lebanon because

(02:53):
they've undergone from really really hard times recently with Israeli
is reel carrying out it's war on his Bella. Last year,
the Secretary General of Catholic Schools in Lebanon saying we
need this visit after all the wars, crises in despair
that we have lived.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
We talk a little bit about the forward group with
Air Force one, and you've got to have a beast
wherever you go for the president. What's an entourage look
like for the Pope as he heads on an international trip.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh, Pope Leo is doing things a little bit differently
from Paul Francis. Now he flies on a plane for
a supplied by Ita Airways, the main airline in Italy,
you know, a narrow body plane, single aisle, with a
phalanx of eighty journalists on board, and then he sort
of walked down and chatted to journalists, answer your question,

(03:45):
give a little speech, so you know, very close contact there.
But actually while he's in these countries, he has been
using a closed popemobile, whereas Francis had an open putmobile.
So so Pope Leo was st a bulletproof vehicle. And
they're also Lebanese troops deployed on both sides of the road,
and I think that obviously reflects the fact that Lebanon

(04:05):
is a country where security is very much in people's minds.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
It's Jonathan Savage with Fox News Radio in London this morning.
Thank you for your time.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Thank you