The papal plane took off from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport at 7:58 AM on Thursday, bound for Ankara, Türkiye.
The partitions of the ITA Airways Airbus A320neo bore the image of Our Mother of Good Counsel, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary held dear by the Augustinians.
Devotion to Our Lady under the title is tied to the hill-town church of Genazzano, Italy, where the Augustinians have served since the 13th century.
Pope Leo XIV visited the church in Genazzano just two days after his election as the Successor of Peter.
On that visit, he prayed at the foot of the ancient image of Our Mother of Good Counsel, which comes from Shkodër, Albania.
Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Journey to Türkiye and Lebanon begins in Ankara, where his first stop will be at the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of the Republic of Türkiye.
The Pope will then be welcomed to the Presidential Palace to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and deliver an address to the civil authorities and diplomatic corps.
He will then reboard the papal plane and travel to Istanbul, where he will reside at the Apostolic Nunciature for the remainder of his visit to Türkiye.
Straight after the official welcome ceremony at Ankara’s International Airport on Thursday morning, Pope Leo XIV visited the city’s Mausoleum of Atatürk—or Anıtkabir (literally, “memorial tomb”)—accompanied by an official delegation including the Minister, the Vice-Governor, and the Commander of the Mausoleum.
The Pope signed the Mausoleum’s Book of Honour and wrote, “I give thanks to God for being able to visit Türkiye, and I invoke upon this country and its people an abundance of peace and prosperity.”
Pope Leo is on the first day of his 6-day visit to Türkiye and Lebanon, his first Apostolic Visit abroad. The Memorial holds great significance for Turks, as it honours the founder of modern Türkiye and symbolizes the nation’s birth, modernization, and secularism.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is revered as the “Father of the Turks” for leading the Turkish National Movement, establishing the Republic of Türkiye in 1923, and serving as its first president.
The site is also the final resting place of İsmet İnönü, the second President of Türkiye, who was interred there after he died in 1973. His tomb faces the Atatürk Mausoleum, on the opposite side of the Ceremonial Ground.
There are four main parts to Anıtkabir: the Road of Lions, the Ceremonial Plaza, the Hall of Honour (location of Atatürk’s tomb), and the Peace Park that surrounds the monument.
Source: Vaticannews.va
