Nicea invites us to embrace the essence of faith and of being Christian, says the Pope

The Pope arrived in Istanbul yesterday evening. This morning he celebrated Holy Mass early and held a Meeting prayer with the bishops, priests, deacons, religious men and women, and pastoral workers of the small Catholic community in Istanbul. And in the afternoon, he attends the ecumenical meeting in Iznik, formerly Nicaea.

Yesterday, the Pope emphasized that Turkey is a bridge of faith and hope. And today, in an atmosphere of emotion with the Catholic community, he recalled that it is a “sacred land,” “where the history of Israel meets nascent Christianity; the Old and New Testaments embrace each other, and the pages of numerous Councils are written.”.

“The faith that unites us has deep roots.”

Indeed, he pointed out that “the faith that unites us has distant roots.” And he mentioned Abraham, the disciples who went to Anatolia and Antioch—where St. Ignatius later became bishop—and were called “Christians” for the first time, St. Paul, and the Lord's beloved disciple, the evangelist St. John. 

In addition, “we remember with admiration the great Byzantine past, the missionary zeal of the Church of Constantinople, and the spread of Christianity throughout the Levant,” said the Pope. 

The Church in Turkey is “a small community that nevertheless remains fruitful as a seed and leaven of the Kingdom,” he said.

The first eight ecumenical councils, in Turkey

The Pontiff emphasized that “the first eight ecumenical councils were held in this land. This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, ‘a milestone in the journey of the Church and of all humanity’ (Francis, Address to the International Theological Commission, November 28, 2024), an event that is still relevant today and presents us with some challenges that I would like to mention.”.

The three challenges outlined by the Pope were as follows.

First challenge: embracing the essence of faith

The first is “the importance of embracing the essence of faith and of being Christian.” Around the Symbol of Faith, the Church of Nicaea found unity (cf. Spes non confundit. Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, n. 17). Therefore, it is not just a doctrinal formula, but an invitation to always seek, even within different perceptions, spiritualities, and cultures, the unity and essentiality of the Christian faith around the centrality of Christ and the Tradition of the Church. 

“Even today, Nicea invites us to reflect on this: who is Jesus for us? What does it mean, at its core, to be Christian? The Symbol of Faith, professed unanimously and commonly, thus becomes a criterion for discernment, a guiding compass, an axis around which our beliefs and actions must revolve.”. 

Second challenge: rediscovering the face of God the Father in Christ

The second challenge consists in the urgency of rediscovering in Christ the face of God the Father. “Nicaea affirms the divinity of Jesus and his equality with the Father. In Jesus, we find the true face of God and his word about humanity and history.”.

This truth constantly challenges our representations of God when they do not correspond to what Jesus has revealed to us, inviting us to constantly discern critically the forms of our faith, our prayer, our pastoral life, and, in general, our spirituality. 

Arianism: Jesus is admired, but without considering him to be the living and true God.

The Pontiff has defined this as a “return to Arianism,” “present in today's culture and sometimes even among believers themselves, when Jesus is viewed with human admiration, even with a religious spirit, but without truly considering him as the living and true God present among us. His being 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.”. 

However, "Nicea reminds us: Christ Jesus is not a figure from the past, he is the Son of God present among us, guiding history toward the future that God has promised us. 

Third challenge: the mediation of faith and the development of doctrine

The Nicene Creed succeeded in conveying the essence of the faith through the cultural and philosophical categories of the time, the Pope explained. 

“However, a few decades later, at the First Council of Constantinople, we see that it was deepened and expanded, and precisely thanks to this deepening of doctrine, a new formula was arrived at: the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which we commonly profess in our Sunday celebrations.”. 

In this we learn “a great lesson. It is always necessary to mediate the Christian faith in the languages and categories of the context in which we live, as the Fathers did at Nicaea and at the other councils.”. 

Saints Newman and John XXIII

Here he quotes the new Doctor of the Church, Saint John Henry Newman, who “insists on the development of Christian doctrine, because it is not an abstract and static idea, but reflects the very mystery of Christ.”.

After quoting St. John XXIII, who served the Church in Turkey, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful to “retain the joy of faith, working as intrepid fishermen in the Lord's boat. May Mary Most Holy, the Theotokos, intercede for you and watch over you.”.

With the elderly and the Little Sisters of the Poor

The Pope then visited a nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. He shared two reflections. The first “is inspired by your name, dear sisters: you are called “Little Sisters of the Poor”. A beautiful name, and one that gives us pause for thought! Yes, the Lord has not called you only to assist or help the poor. He has called you to be their “sisters”! 

“This is the secret of Christian charity: rather than being for others, it is about being with others, in a sharing based on brotherhood,” he said.

Caring for the elderly: ‘a lot of patience and a lot of prayer’

The second reflection. “They are ‘seniors’And this word, ‘elderly,’ risks losing its true meaning today: in many social contexts, where efficiency and materialism predominate, respect for the elderly has been lost. Instead, Sacred Scripture and good traditions teach us that—as Pope Francis often repeated—the elderly are the wisdom of a people, a treasure for their grandchildren, for their families, for the whole of society.”.

“So, double thanks to this Home, which welcomes people in the name of brotherhood and does so with the elderly. This—we know—is not easy; it requires a lot of patience and prayer. Therefore, let us now pray to the Lord to accompany and sustain them. I invoke God’s blessing on all of you.”.

This afternoon, an ecumenical prayer meeting will take place near the archaeological excavations of the ancient basilica of St. Neophytus in İznik, ancient Nicaea, the central reason for the Pope's trip.