Pope

The pontiff is set to meet Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and deliver a speech to authorities and diplomats later today.

Pope Leo XIV has reiterated the Vatican’s insistence on a two-state resolution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it’s the “only solution” that can guarantee justice for both sides.

Leo made the comments as he flew from Turkiye to Lebanon on Sunday for the second and final leg of his maiden international voyage as pope.

On the flight, the pontiff was asked by reporters about his private talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upon his arrival in Ankara, and whether they discussed the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Leo confirmed they had and said Turkiye has an “important role to play” to end both conflicts.

On Gaza, he repeated the Holy See’s longstanding position supporting a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. The creation of a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza has long been seen internationally as the only way to resolve the decades-long conflict.

“We know that in this moment, Israel doesn’t accept this solution, but we see it as the only one that can offer a solution to the conflict that they are living in,” said Leo. “We are also friends with Israel, and we try with both sides to be a mediating voice that can help bring them closer to a solution with justice for all.”

The pope has avoided any direct mention of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza while in Turkiye.

There was no immediate response from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has long asserted that creating a Palestinian state would reward the Palestinian group Hamas and eventually lead to an even larger Hamas-run state on Israel’s borders.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu said Israel’s opposition to a Palestinian state has “not changed one bit” and isn’t threatened by external or internal pressure. “I do not need affirmations, tweets or lectures from anyone,” he said.

‘Glimmer of hope’

The American pontiff landed in Beirut and is now set to meet Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world’s only Christian head of state, and deliver a speech to authorities and diplomats at the presidential palace later in the afternoon.

“Many people are meeting him on the side of the road towards the presidential palace and he’s expected to meet Lebanese officials. He’ll also hold a huge mass in the centre of Beirut, and then visit several cities across the country,” reported Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem from the scene.

About 30 percent of the population of Lebanon is Christian, while the vast majority are Muslim, roughly half of whom belong to the Shia and Sunni branches of Islam.

Travelling abroad has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes seeking to meet local Catholics, spread the faith, and conduct international diplomacy.

‘For the sake of peace’

Lebanon’s diverse communities have also welcomed the papal trip with leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna saying Lebanon “needs the glimmer of hope represented by this visit”.

Reinforcements from the Lebanese army and internal security forces were deployed to the airport before Leo’s arrival.

His convoy will pass through Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area where Hezbollah holds sway and where the terrain was battered in last year’s Israeli air strikes. Hezbollah’s Imam al-Mahdi Scouts are to hold a welcoming ceremony by the roadside as the convoy passes.

Leo’s schedule includes a prayer at the site of a 2020 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 healthcare workers and residents are eagerly anticipating his arrival.

Leo will not travel to the south, the target of Israeli attacks. Despite a United States-brokered ceasefire in November 2024, Israel continues to launch near-daily air strikes on southern Lebanon.

The pope “is coming to bless us and for the sake of peace”, said Farah Saadeh, a Beirut resident. “We have to wait and see what will happen after he leaves, and we hope nothing is going to happen after his departure,” Saadeh said.

Before Leo’s arrival, Hezbollah urged the pope to express his “rejection of injustice and aggression” that the country is being subjected to, a reference to the Israeli attacks.

The pope is visiting Turkiye until Sunday on his first overseas trip as pontiff, which also includes a visit to Lebanon.

Pope Leo XIV has visited Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque on the third day of his trip to Turkiye, his first known visit as leader of the Catholic Church to a Muslim place of worship.

The first US pope bowed slightly before entering the mosque early on Saturday and was led on a tour of the expansive complex, able to hold 10,000 worshippers, by its imam and the mufti of Istanbul.

Leo, walking in white socks, smiled during the 20-minute visit and joked with one of his guides, the mosque’s lead muezzin – the official who leads the daily calls to prayer.

“He wanted to see the mosque, he wanted to feel the atmosphere of the mosque, and he was very pleased,” Askin Tunca, the Blue Mosque’s muezzin who calls the faithful to prayer, told reporters.

Tunca said after the mosque visit that he asked Leo during the tour if he wished to pray for a moment, but the pope said he preferred to just visit the mosque.

The Vatican said in a statement immediately after the visit that Leo undertook the tour “in a spirit of reflection and listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer”.

While Leo did not appear to pray during the tour, he did joke with Tunca. As the group was leaving the building, the pope noticed he was being guided out a door that is usually an entryway, where a sign says: “No exit.”

“It says no exit,” Leo said, smiling. Tunca responded: “You don’t have to go out, you can stay here.”

The pope is visiting Turkiye until Sunday on his first overseas trip as pontiff, which also includes a visit to Lebanon.

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.

The Blue Mosque is officially named for Sultan Ahmed I, leader of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 to 1617, who oversaw its construction. It is decorated with thousands of blue ceramic tiles, the basis of its popular name.

Unlike his predecessors, Leo did not visit the nearby Hagia Sophia, the legendary sixth-century basilica built during the Byzantine Empire, which was converted into a mosque under the Ottoman Empire, then became a museum under Turkiye’s newly established republic.

But in 2020, the UNESCO World Heritage site was converted back into a mosque in a move that drew international condemnation, including from the late Pope Francis who said he was “very saddened”.

Istanbul, Turkiye – Pope Leo XIV has chosen Turkiye for his first foreign trip as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, a deeply symbolic move that minority community representatives say is taking place at a time of renewed openness in the Muslim-majority country.

During his visit this week, the pontiff held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met religious leaders and visited places of worship in the country where Christianity’s deep roots sit alongside a long and influential Islamic tradition.

Today, Turkiye’s population of more than 80 million people is at least 99 percent Muslim, yet the country remains home to centuries-old Greek, Armenian, Syriac and Latin Christian communities that have long been part of its social fabric.

After decades shaped by political tensions, demographic change and property disputes, representatives of minority foundations say today’s climate offers greater visibility and confidence than they have experienced in decades. They also see the timing of Pope Leo’s visit as reflective of a period in which historic foundations feel more able to restore properties, organise religious life and engage directly with state bodies.

“This is, first of all, a great honour for Turkiye,” Manolis Kostidis, vice president of the Greek Foundations Association, told Al Jazeera of the pope’s visit.

“It’s also extremely important for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and for the Greek community. Istanbul has hosted empires for centuries, and welcoming such a guest shows the value of the patriarchate – especially with the support the Turkish government has given in recent years,” he said.

In the early decades of the Turkish Republic, Turkiye’s Greek, Armenian and Syriac populations numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Their decline over the 20th century was shaped by a series of political ruptures – from the 1942 Wealth Tax, which disproportionately targeted non-Muslims, to the 1955 Istanbul pogrom that devastated Greek, Armenian and Jewish neighbourhoods, and the 1964 deportation of more than 12,000 Greek citizens amid tensions over Cyprus.

Other administrative restrictions and legal rulings followed in subsequent decades, gradually accelerating emigration. Today, the remaining communities are far smaller, yet their representatives stress resilience, continuity and a deep sense of belonging to the country they have lived in for centuries.

“If Turkiye’s population is 85 million, we are about 85,000 – one in a thousand,” Can Ustabası, head of the Minority Foundations Representative Office, told Al Jazeera.

“Communities that were once in the millions are now tiny. We’re citizens of this country, but history brought us to this point.”

While the pressures affecting minority groups through the 20th century are widely documented, community representatives agree that the atmosphere of the past two decades stands in sharp contrast.

From the 2000s onward, minority foundations benefitted from a number of legal changes.

The Foundations Law, first drafted in the Ottoman era and later adapted by the Republic, governs how non-Muslim charitable foundations own, manage and inherit property. A series of European Union-driven harmonisation packages between 2003 and 2008 expanded their ability to register assets, reclaim properties seized under earlier rulings, and receive donations and inheritances again.

This culminated in a 2011 government decree instructing the return – or compensation – of properties that had been taken from foundations under the 1974 Court of Cassation ruling and earlier administrative practices.

“Erdogan’s instruction to ‘return what rightfully belongs to them’ changed the attitude of every state body. Previously, getting permission to paint a church took years. Now, doors open easily,” Ustabasi said.

‘One of most comfortable periods’

Lawyer Kezban Hatemi, who has advised minority foundations for decades, agreed that this has been “a major reform” but noted that more needed to be done. “Some cases are still ongoing – this kind of historical process never ends quickly,” Hatemi told Al Jazeera.

According to Hatemi, the earlier reluctance of state institutions was rooted in a decades-old mentality shaped by security fears and restrictive legal interpretations. She said minority foundations faced layers of bureaucratic obstacles for years, with even basic repairs or property registrations blocked. This only began to shift when EU harmonisation reforms created a new legal framework and political resolve emerged to act on it.

“The EU process gave real momentum – but it also took political will,” she said, noting that “a major blockage was removed” even as old fears loom for some.

“People abroad still say: ‘Don’t buy property in Istanbul, you never know what could happen.’ The memory from the 40s to the 70s is still very strong.”

Ustabasi noted that while the process has not always been straightforward, some 1,250 properties “were returned through EU harmonisation reforms and changes to the Foundations Law” between 2003 and 2018.

Kostidis said the impact of the return of the properties has not only been material. “It makes us feel like full citizens,” he said, noting that “minorities have lived one of their most comfortable periods” since Erdogan came to power in 2003.

One of the clearest signs of renewed confidence is among Syriacs, particularly in Tur Abdin – the historic heartland of Syriac Christianity in southeastern Turkiye that stretches across Midyat and the wider Mardin region. In these villages, return migration has slowly begun to reverse.

“People who emigrated to Europe are building homes again in Midyat and its villages,” Ustabasi said. “The roads are better than Istanbul, security is solid, and some are even preparing to live there long term.”

He linked the shift directly to improved security conditions in the southeast, a region that for decades was affected by clashes between the Turkish state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, making travel and daily life unpredictable. “A Turkiye without terrorism opens many doors. People feel safe travelling, restoring homes, returning to their villages,” he said.

Kostidis said returns to Turkiye’s largest city of Istanbul are also possible – but require practical fixes.

“Large-scale returns are unlikely. But yes, some will come back if residency issues are fixed,” he said, calling for “a special regulation” for Greeks from Istanbul with Greek citizenship.

“All communities – Muslim, Jewish, Armenian, Syriac, Greek – should live in this city. Istanbul’s strength has always been its plurality.”

‘Powerful message’

Despite significant progress, several legal and administrative issues remain unresolved, with the representatives citing foundation board elections, legal ambiguity around autonomy and longstanding cases in some properties’ handover.

Ustabasi called for changes in the legal framework, while Hatemi noted the state “still intervenes in foundation governance in ways it never does with Muslim foundations. This mentality hasn’t fully changed – but I’m hopeful.”

Turkish-Armenian journalist and writer Etyen Mahcupyan said the pace of reform shifted after a failed coup attempt in 2016, when state bureaucracy regained influence over politics and decision-making.

He believes restitution slowed as a result, but said momentum could return if Turkiye “brings EU membership back to the forefront”. Turkiye started talks to join the bloc in 2005, but the accession bid has effectively been frozen.

Mahcupyan views Pope Leo’s visit as carrying political and symbolic resonance, given that the pope is seen not only as a religious figure but also as a political actor.

“Considering Turkiye’s foreign policy ambitions, this visit offers positive contributions. Ankara wants to shape a Turkiye that is accepted in global politics – and the world seems ready for it.”

Mahcupyan noted the pope’s “clear position” on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza “aligns closely with Turkiye’s own line. This kind of convergence is important. It prevents Turkiye from turning inward, helps the world look at Turkiye more gently – and softens attitudes towards non-Muslims.”

He also said the visit helps ensure minority communities “are not forgotten”.

Kostidis agreed.

“A Muslim-majority country hosting the leaders of the Christian world – you can’t give a more powerful message than this,” he said.

The Head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo, visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque as part of his four-day trip to Turkiye. Officially called the Sultanahmet Mosque, it was built in the sixth century and has great significance to both Christians and Muslims.

Pope’s status has never truly been in doubt.

The veteran started the season as first-choice – just as he did in each of his previous three campaigns at Newcastle.

But Howe recognised the need to bring in fresh competition, even before goalkeeper Martin Dubravka’s departure to Burnley was sanctioned last summer.

James Trafford had been a longstanding target, but the 23-year-old decided to rejoin former club Manchester City from Burnley instead.

And Pope previously admitted that Newcastle’s very public search for a permanent goalkeeper – and the subsequent arrival of Ramsdale on loan from Southampton – drove him on to “push himself to the absolute maximum to earn the right to play for the club”.

Pope certainly earned that right after starting the campaign strongly.

Such was Pope’s form, the 33-year-old was recalled to the England squad for the first time in a year earlier this month – only to have to withdraw after suffering a concussion during a match against Brentford.

It was a deserved call-up.

Pope kept eight clean sheets in his opening 14 games in all competitions, and his superb 65-yard throw went viral after he set up Harvey Barnes’ breakaway goal against Benfica.

But Newcastle have struggled defensively on the road in recent weeks.

Though he has not always been offered much protection by those around him, Pope has let in 10 goals in his past four away games and made different types of errors against Marseille, Brentford and West Ham when his side were in front.

West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta’s shot squirmed past him at the London Stadium.

Pope was caught out at the Gtech Community Stadium a week later when he attempted to punch the ball only for Kevin Schade to equalise from Brentford defender Michael Kayode’s long throw.

And then there was his rush of blood to the head in Marseille.

First American pope urges Catholic Church in Turkiye to serve the most vulnerable, including migrants and refugees.

Pope Leo XIV is set to join the leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians to celebrate the historic 1,700-year milestone since one of the early Church’s most important gatherings, on the second day of his visit to Turkiye.

The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics began his day on Friday by joining a prayer service at Istanbul’s Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

The first American pope has chosen the Muslim-majority Turkiye as his first overseas destination, to be followed by Lebanon in the coming days, as he seeks to be a bridge-builder and a messenger of peace amid raging global conflict.

In Istanbul, police shut down a main artery of the country’s largest city to allow Leo’s entourage to pass. After the church service, he was scheduled to visit a nursing home and meet with Turkiye’s chief rabbi.

Pilgrims packed into Holy Spirit church while dozens more waited excitedly in the courtyard outside in the hope of getting a glimpse of the pontiff, getting up before dawn to be in the front line.

“It’s a blessing for us, it’s so important that the first visit of the pope is to our country,” a 35-year-old Turkish Catholic, Ali Gunuru, told AFP news agency.

Catherine Bermudez, a Filipino migrant worker in Istanbul, told Al Jazeera that she was “very excited” to be chosen as one of the parishioners to greet the pope inside the church.

Visibly moved by his reception at the church, Leo could be seen smiling and looking much more at ease than on Thursday, encouraging his flock not to be discouraged, saying “the logic of littleness is the church’s true strength”.

“The church in Turkiye is a small community, yet fruitful,” he said in his address, urging them to give “special attention” to helping migrants and refugees staying in Turkiye who number nearly three million, most of them Syrians.

Next papal stop in Iznik

Later on Friday, the 70-year-old pontiff will head to Iznik to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a gathering of bishops who drew up a foundational statement of faith still central to Christianity today despite the separation of the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Leo will be flown by helicopter to Iznik where he has been invited by the Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, to join an ecumenical prayer service by the ruins of a fourth-century basilica.

“When the world is troubled and divided by conflict and antagonism, our meeting with Pope Leo XIV is especially significant,” Patriarch Bartholomew told AFP news agency in an interview.

Reports said that Turkish police removed Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1981, from Iznik on Thursday.

Agca – who was released from prison in 2010 – said he had hoped to meet the pope, telling reporters that “I hope we can sit down and talk in Iznik, or in Istanbul, for two or three minutes.”

Pope Leo is the fifth pontiff to visit Turkiye, after Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francis in 2014.

Pope Leo XIV hailed Turkiye as a bridge between cultures and religions, as he began his first foreign visit since becoming pontiff. He warned the future of humanity was at stake as a result of escalating conflicts. The Pope will also visit Lebanon during his tour.

Pope Leo XIV spoke about his upcoming first foreign trip as pontiff, a day before he is set to depart to Turkiye and Lebanon “to visit the beloved peoples of those countries rich in history and spirituality”.

Nov. 15 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday returned 62 Indigenous people’s artifacts held for more than 100 years by the Vatican to leaders of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The pope, meeting with the high clergy members in the Vatican, fulfilled a promise made by his predecessor, Pope Francis, who died on April 21.

The original inhabitants of Canada are the First Nations, Inuit and Metis, who comprise 1.8 million people, or 5% of the total population.

The CCCB said in a joint statement with the Vatican that it is “committed to ensuring that these artifacts are properly safeguarded, respected and preserved.”

In early December, after being packaged, they will be taken to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, where the museum curators will examine and catalog them before they are delivered to Indigenous groups across the country.

They will be returned to the National Indigenous Organizations, who “will then ensure that the artifacts are reunited with their communities of origin,” CCCB said in a news release

Leo XIV met with three members of the Canadian clergy — Bishop Pierre Goudreault, the CCCB president; Archbishop Richard Smith; and Father Jean Vezina, general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops — according to the Vatican.

“The Holy Father’s gift is a tangible sign of his desire to help Canada’s Bishops walk alongside Indigenous Peoples in a spirit of reconciliation during the Jubilee Year of Hope and beyond,” Goudreault said.

“As CCCB President, I would like to thank the National Indigenous Organizations for their openness and collaboration in this work. I assure them of the Church’s unwavering commitment to reconciliation,” he added.

In the joint CCCB-Vatican statement, Holy See officials said that “His Holiness Pope Leo XIV desires that this gift represent a concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity.”

“This is an act of ecclesial sharing, with which the Successor of Peter entrusts to the Church in Canada these artifacts, which bear witness to the history of the encounter between faith and the cultures of the indigenous peoples,” the Vatican said.

The artifacts were part of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition of 1925, encouraged by Pope Pius XI during the Holy Year “to bear witness to the faith and cultural richness of peoples,” according to the Vatican.

The artifacts were subsequently combined with those of the Church’s Lateran Ethnological Missionary Museum.

According to the Vatican, returning the artifacts “takes place amid the Jubilee of 2025, which celebrates hope, and the centenary of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition.”

Indigenous communities for years have been asking to have the items returned.

In spring 2022, community representatives visited the Vatican for meetings with Pope Francis before his trip to Canada in 2023, which included visiting the Vatican Museums and receiving a private tour of the collection.

“This is the Seventh Commandment: If you have stolen something, you must give it back,” Francis said at the time.

In 2024, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Francis during the G-7 meeting in Italy and urged him to make good on returning the artifacts, which include an Inuvialuit kayak once used for beluga and whale hunts, according to Canada’s embassy.

“This is historic, something Indigenous communities have been asking for,” said Joyce Napier, Canadian ambassador to the Holy See.

“A big part of the mandate of the Canadian embassy to the Holy See, when I took on this job, was to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. It was a priority for the government. Today’s announcement is a significant step towards reconciliation.”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV welcomed Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, Greta Gerwig and dozens of other Hollywood luminaries to a special Vatican audience Saturday celebrating cinema and its ability to inspire and unite.

Leo encouraged the filmmakers and celebrities gathered in a frescoed Vatican audience hall to use their art to include marginal voices, calling film “a popular art in the noblest sense, intended for and accessible to all.”

“When cinema is authentic, it does not merely console, but challenges,” he told the stars. “It articulates the questions that dwell within us, and sometimes, even provokes tears that we didn’t know we needed to shed.”

The encounter, organized by the Vatican’s culture ministry, followed similar audiences Pope Francis had in recent years with famous artists and comedians. It’s part of the Vatican’s efforts to reach out beyond the Roman Catholic Church to engage with the secular world.

But the gathering also seemed to have particular meaning for history’s first American pope, who grew up in the heyday of Hollywood. The 70-year-old, Chicago-born Leo just this week identified his four favorite films: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Sound of Music,” “Ordinary People” and “Life Is Beautiful.”

In a sign of how seemingly star-struck he was, Leo spent nearly an hour after the audience greeting and chatting amiably with each of the participants, something he rarely does for large audiences.

Drawing applause from the celebrities, Leo acknowledged that the film industry and cinemas around the world were experiencing a decline, with theaters that had once been important social and cultural meeting points disappearing from neighborhoods.

“I urge institutions not to give up, but to cooperate in affirming the social and cultural value” of movie theaters, he said.

Celebrities just happy to be invited

Many celebrities said they found Leo’s words inspiring, and expressed awe as they walked through the halls of the Vatican‘s Apostolic Palace, where a light luncheon reception awaited them after the audience.

“It was a surprise to me that I even got invited,” Lee told reporters along the red carpet in the palace.

During the audience, Lee had presented Leo with a jersey from his beloved Knicks basketball team, featuring the number 14 and Leo’s name on the back. Leo is a known Chicago Bulls fan, but Lee said he told the pope that the Knicks now boast three players from the pope’s alma mater, Villanova University.

Blanchett, for her part, said the pope’s comments were inspiring because he understood the crucial role cinema can play in transcending borders and exploring sometimes difficult subjects in ways that aren’t divisive.

“Filmmaking is about entertainment, but it’s about including voices that are often marginalized, and not [shying] away from the pain and complexity that we’re all living through right now,” she said.

She said Leo, in his comments about the experience of watching a film in a dark theater, clearly understood the culturally important role cinemas can play.

“Sitting in the dark with strangers is a way in which we can reconnect to what unites us rather than what divides us,” she said.

A ‘hit and miss’ guest list that grew

The gathering drew a diverse group of filmmakers and actors, including many from Italy, like Monica Bellucci and Alba Rohrwacher. American actors included Chris O’Donnell, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, Apatow’s wife.

Director Sally Potter said she was impressed that Leo took the time to speak with each one of them. And she said she loved his comments about the value of silence and slowness in film.

“It was a good model of how to be and how to think about cinema,” she said, noting especially Leo’s defense of “slow cinema” and not seeing the moving image just in terms of algorithms.

Director Gus Van Sant said he liked Leo’s vibe.

“He was very laid-back, you know, he had a fantastic message of beauty in cinema,” he said.

Archbishop Paul Tighe, the No. 2 in the Vatican culture ministry, said the guest list was pulled together just in the last three months, with the help of the handful of contacts Vatican officials had in Hollywood, including director Martin Scorsese.

The biggest hurdle, Tighe said, was convincing Hollywood agents that the invitation to come meet Leo wasn’t a hoax. In the end, as word spread, some figures approached the Vatican and asked to be invited.

“It’s an industry where people have their commitments months in advance and years in advance, so obviously it was a little hit and miss, but we’re very pleased and very proud” by the turnout, he said.

The aim of the encounter, Tighe said, was to encourage an ongoing conversation with the world of culture, of which film is a fundamental part.

“It’s a very democratic art form,” Tighe said. Saturday’s audience, he said, was “the celebration of an art form that I think is touching the lives of so many people and therefore recognizing it and giving it its true importance.”

Winfield writes for the Associated Press. AP journalists Trisha Thomas and Isaia Montelione contributed to this report.

The “Purge” movies are missing from the list, as are the entries in the “Saw” franchise. There are no “Evil Dead” titles. “The Exorcist” is suspiciously absent.

The list, in this case, is the favorite four films of Pope Leo XIV, f.k.a. Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago. The pontiff released the list via video ahead of a planned meeting Saturday with luminaries from the world of cinema.

To avoid the risk of being played off the stage by the academy’s orchestra, let’s share the winners quickly:

1. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” 1946
2. “The Sound of Music,” 1965
3. “Ordinary People,” 1980
4. “Life Is Beautiful,” 1997

That’s it. No “The Agony and the Ecstasy.” No “Pope Joan” or “Spotlight” or “Conclave,” for obvious reasons. No “Sister Act” or “Oh, God!” or any of the associated sequels, for less obvious reasons.

As a matter of fact, not a single comedy at all, much less a goofy comedy. And on either the drama or comedy fronts, the pope definitely could have chosen at least one flick set in his former neck of the woods. Think “The Blues Brothers,” “Home Alone,” “The Untouchables,” “High Fidelity,” “Eight Men Out” or “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” (Think “Chicago,” for goodness’ sake.)

Pope Leo will apparently be meeting Saturday with Hollywood types including, Variety reports, actors Monica Bellucci, Cate Blanchett, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Viggo Mortensen and Chris Pine, plus directors Spike Lee, George Miller, Giuseppe Tornatore and Gus Van Sant.

Seems the pope “has expressed his desire to deepen dialogue with the World of Cinema, and in particular with actors and directors, exploring the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values,” according to a statement obtained by CNN.

That sounds all well and good, and a person can’t really go wrong with the movies on the pope’s list — two of the four are best picture Oscar winners, and the other two are best picture nominees.

That said, let’s shed a tiny tear for the exclusion of “Bruce Almighty,” if only because Morgan Freeman could use a little papal recognition too.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has called for “deep reflection” in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”

The Chicago-born pope was responding Tuesday to a variety of geopolitical questions from reporters outside the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East.

Leo underlined that scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world: “How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening.”

He said “the spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered,’’ and he called on authorities to allow pastoral workers access to the detained migrants. “Many times they’ve been separated from their families. No one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to,’’ Leo said.

Leo last month urged labor union leaders visiting from Chicago to advocate for immigrants and welcome minorities into their ranks.

Asked about the lethal attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela, the pontiff said the military action was “increasing tension,’’ noting that they were coming even closer to the coastline.

“The thing is to seek dialogue,’’ the pope said.

On the Middle East, Leo acknowledged that the first phase of the peace accord between Israel and Hamas remains “very fragile,’’ and said that the parties need to find a way forward on future governance “and how you can guarantee the rights of all peoples.’’

Asked about Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, the pope described the settlement issue as “complex,’’ adding: “Israel has said one thing, then it’s done another sometimes. We need to try to work together for justice for all peoples.’’

Pope Leo will receive Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican on Thursday. At the end of November he will make his first trip as Pope to Turkey and Lebanon.