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ISTANBUL – Speaking to Turkey’s small Catholic minority during Mass on Saturday afternoon, Pope Leo XIV stressed the need to work for peace and unity in such an ethnically and culturally diverse region.

During his Mass on Nov. 29 – the Solemnity of St. Andrew the Apostle and the 1^st Sunday of Advent – the pope urged Catholics to develop a strong spiritual and sacramental life, and to build a life centered on peace, recalling the day’s second reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah.

Quoting the book of Isaiah, he said, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

“How urgent this call is for us today!” Leo said. “How great the need for peace, unity and reconciliation around us, within us and among us!”

“What can our contribution be in response?” he asked.

Leo XIV celebrated the Mass in Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena on his third day in Turkey, a Muslim-majority nation where Christians are a small minority who face daily prejudice and discrimination.

Pope Leo Friday offered a word of encouragement to the bishops, clergy and religious, telling them to embrace the “logic of littleness” and not to focus on numbers, but the spiritual strength of their flock.

In a land where Christians have historically faced violent persecution, and where the risk of fundamentalist and extremist violence is still a daily concern, Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople issued a joint declaration on Saturday condemning the use of religion to defend violence, and called for peace and an end to war.

In his homily Saturday, Leo noted the logo of his trip, which refigures the bridge connecting the Asian and European sides of Turkey. The pontiff explained how there are now three points of connection, rather than just one, meaning it has been reinforced.

Drawing on this analogy, he said these points of connection are reminders of the importance the common Christian effort “to build bridges of unity.”

Unity must be built within the church itself, he said, as well as with members of other Christian churches and denominations, and with members of other faiths.

“Taking care of these three bonds, strengthening and expanding them in every way possible, is part of our vocation to be a city set on a hill,” he said.

Pope Leo noted that there are four different Catholic rites in Turkey – the Latin, Armenian, Chaldean and Syriac rites.

“Each one contributes its own spiritual, historical and ecclesial richness,” he said, noting as well how they “clearly demonstrate one of the most beautiful features of the face of the Bride of Christ: a catholicity that unites.”

“The unity that binds us together around the altar is a gift from God,” he said, saying the effort to preserve this unity requires care, attention and constant maintenance “so that its foundations remain solid and are not weakened by time and vicissitudes.”

“Let us make every effort, then, to foster and strengthen the bonds that unite us, so that we may enrich one another and be a credible sign before the world of the Lord’s universal and infinite love,” he said.

Leo greeted the representatives of various other Christian churches present at the Mass, saying, there is a common faith in Jesus, the Son of God, that unites members of all Christian churches.

He recalled the ecumenical celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, held Thursday in what is now Iznik and which was attended by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and representatives of various other Christian churches and communities.

In this spirit, he said Catholics must “renew today our ‘yes’ to unity, ‘that they may all be one’.” Stressing the importance of interfaith dialogue, he lamented that “religion is too often used to justify wars and atrocities.”

“Whoever does not love does not know God,” he said.

“Therefore, we want to walk together by appreciating what unites us, breaking down the walls of prejudice and mistrust, promoting mutual knowledge and esteem in order to give to all a strong message of hope and an invitation to become ‘peacemakers,’” he said.

Leo closed his homily urging Catholics in Turkey to “make these values our resolutions for the season of Advent and even more so for our personal and communal life.”

“We journey as if on a bridge that connects earth to Heaven, a bridge that the Lord has built for us,” he said, and encouraged Catholics in Turkey to keep their eyes set to both heaven and earth.

Doing this will help faithful to “love God and our brothers and sisters with all our hearts in order to journey together and find ourselves one day united in the house of the Father,” he said.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen