Pope Leo XIV is in Nicaea of Bithynia in western Turkey together with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. On the shores of this ancient city, the two primates are honoring the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, which took place in Nicaea in the presence of Emperor Constantine the Great.

The ceremony is being held at the archaeological site on the banks of Nicaea, where ten years ago Turkish archaeologists discovered the ruins of a 4th-century basilica, believed to be either the Basilica of Saint Neophytos or, according to others, the Church of the Holy Fathers, where the Ecumenical Council was convened.

The two primates of Christianity are also accompanied by the leaders of other Christian denominations present in Turkey.