![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/11-27-pope-leo-thanksgiving-gratitude-300x300.jpg\")
Pope Leo XIV smiles as a tray of food is served during lunch with guests assisted by the Albano diocesan Caritas agency at the Borgo Laudato Si\u2019 in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug. 17, 2025. (CNS photo\/Lola Gomez)<\/p>\nVATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2013 Thanksgiving is a \u201cbeautiful feast\u201d that reminds everyone to be grateful for the gifts they have been given, Pope Leo XIV said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay thank you to someone,\u201d the pope suggested two days before the U.S. holiday when he met reporters outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo before returning to the Vatican after a day off.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, was scheduled to spend his Thanksgiving Nov. 27 in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, the first stops on his first foreign trip as pope.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV smiles as a tray of food is served during lunch with guests assisted by the Albano diocesan Caritas agency at the Borgo Laudato Si\u2019 in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug. 17, 2025. (CNS photo\/Lola Gomez)<\/p>\n
A reporter asked the pope what he was thankful for this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany things I\u2019m thankful for,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n
He described Thanksgiving as \u201cthis beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites all people, people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
The holiday is an opportunity \u201cto say thank you to someone, to recognize that we all have received so many gifts \u2014 first and foremost, the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of unity, to encourage all people to try and promote peace and harmony and to give thanks to God for the many gifts we have been given.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo was asked about his upcoming trip, particularly about relations with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who will host the pope for several prayer services in addition to having a private meeting and lunch with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trip was born precisely to celebrate 1,700 years of the Creed of Nicaea, the Council of Nicaea\u201d and what it affirmed about Jesus, the pope said.<\/p>\n
In his apostolic letter, \u201cIn Unitate Fidei\u201d (\u201cIn the Unity of Faith\u201d), published Nov. 23, Pope Leo highlighted the importance of the anniversary and of the Creed that all mainline Christians still share.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnity in the faith,\u201d he told the reporters, \u201ccan also be a source of peace for the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo also was asked if he was concerned about going to Lebanon when Israel continues to strike what it says are Hezbollah and Hamas positions in Lebanon. Israel said it killed Hezbollah\u2019s top military leader Nov. 23 in a suburb of Beirut; Lebanon said the strike killed five other people as well and wounded 28 more.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a concern,\u201d the pope said. \u201cAgain, I would invite all people to look for ways to abandon the use of arms as a way of solving problems and to come together, to respect one another, to sit down together at the table, to dialogue and to work together for solutions for the problems that affect us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very happy to be able to visit Lebanon,\u201d the pope said. \u201cThe message will be a word of peace, a word of hope, especially this year of the Jubilee of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2013 Thanksgiving is a \u201cbeautiful feast\u201d that reminds everyone to be grateful for the gifts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-45892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}