Pope Francis (L) listens to the speech of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara as part of a three day visit in Turkey on November 28, 2014. Pope Francis begins his first visit to Turkey today in a challenging trip aimed at building bridges with Islam and supporting the embattled Christian minorities of the Middle East. The 77-year-old Argentine pope will move to Istanbul on Saturday and Sunday, visiting key sites of the city's Byzantine and Ottoman heritage as well as meeting the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE