Digital media representation of the Pope's visit

One of the research areas of communication science is to examine how the media shapes, represents, and assigns ideological meanings to social events. Representation in the media refers to how events are reproduced and interpreted through media channels. Pope Leo XIV's visit to Turkey between November 27-30, 2025, is an excellent example of a hybrid event of representation in digital media from the perspective of communication science. While this visit covered Ankara, Istanbul, and Iznik to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, it created a spectrum of representation in the media field ranging from a "bridge of peace" to a "symbolic occupation." The visit, which is a very profound example of the reproduction of political and cultural symbols through the media, took place at the intersection of physical rituals (the welcome in Ankara, the visit to Anıtkabir, the ecumenical prayer in Iznik, the prayer at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque) and digital mediatization (live broadcasts, social media posts).

In digital mediatization, sensational visuals and emotional narratives transform religious ritual and adapt it to a global audience. Coded images (visuals) and myths (cultural legends) conceal ideologies. On platforms like X, users re-code events with their own content (memes, comments) and individualize the ritual. Physical events are reproduced digitally, boundaries blur, and ideological codings (e.g., populism, polarization) are strengthened. When evaluated from the perspective of communication science, Pope Leo XIV's visit to Turkey will be remembered as an event that simultaneously stirred international politics and local symbolic orders.

The visit, which turned into a symbolic spectacle reproduced along the axes of ritual, representation, and ideology in terms of digital media, produced an institutional representation in mainstream media (AA, TRT, BBC, Reuters) by placing it within a framework of diplomatic courtesy and messages of peace. International media positioned the Pope as a "transnational mediator" in line with the Vatican's soft power strategies. On social media, however, the visit was instrumentalized, and identity-based, emotional, ideological, and polarized comment streams came to the fore. While the Vatican's discourse was "universal brotherhood, dialogue, peace, ecumenical unity," the discourse in the Turkish mainstream media was dominated by "diplomatic hospitality in accordance with sovereignty, cultural maturity, international prestige." On social media, themes such as "cultural threat, effort for religious influence, geopolitical strategy, violation of religious sensitivities, excessive visibility of Christian symbolism, cultural pluralism, inter-ritual contact, diplomatic softening" drew attention. The fact that the same images produced different meanings on different ideological grounds during the visit also revealed that representation in the media is a field of ideological struggle.

Almost every frame of the visit entered a viral loop on social media within minutes. The helicopter landing, hugs, prayers, walks... Each of these turned into a tool for interaction in the hands of different political camps. Digital circulation both accelerated and multiplied the ritual. The physical ritual performed by the Pope was re-staged, re-interpreted, and re-coded by social media users. This made it impossible to fix the meaning of the visit.

In short, during the visit, rituals were reproduced simultaneously with the physical space on screens, on social media, and in the personal feeds of millions of people. This turned every symbolic gesture, every greeting, and every step into a part of political meaning production. The reason for this is related to the fact that the media does not simply reflect reality but selectively codes it and presents it to the audience. While media producers create messages by coding events with social values, beliefs, and dominant ideologies, these codes spread through visual images (e.g., photos of the Pope's mosque visit) and myths (myths of peace and dialogue). Audiences, on the other hand, decode these messages from dominant (hegemonic), negotiated, or oppositional positions. For example, an event can be ideologically transformed into a myth of "interfaith harmony," but audiences may interpret it as "cultural colonialism and threat." While mainstream media spreads the state's ideology of "hospitality," counter-readings may see a "cultural and religious threat," a violation of the Treaty of Lausanne, and even a part of "Evangelical-Zionist eschatology."

The images that emerged throughout the visit created a narrative trapped between diplomacy and faith, national identity and global authority, and history and the speed of today's digital media. The Pope's mass, his embrace with Patriarch Bartholomew, the prayer scene on the shores of Iznik, or the moment of silence at Anıtkabir... Each of these was symbolically loaded with meaning and ideology in their own contexts; however, the real breaking point emerged in the transformation these scenes underwent in digital circulation. Because each image was reshaped by the medium in which it was shared; the emotional tone, ideological background, and political framework changed according to the viewer's feed. The Pope's visit and rituals were re-staged on mobile screens, creating a virtual congregation in which millions participated. The visit to Anıtkabir could be interpreted as contact with the modern national story, the visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as an ecumenical stage, the prayer by Lake Iznik as a current performance of a historical myth, and the mass at the Volkswagen Arena as an Istanbul stage of global Christianity.

The most powerful element determining the agenda of the Pope's visit was undoubtedly the circulation of images. An image carries emotional energy, triggers identities, and sets ideological reactions in motion. In this context, the visit logo prepared by the Vatican was also interpreted as an ideological text. Symbols in the visual such as the Çanakkale Bridge (East-West bridge), waves (baptism and spiritual renewal), Tulip (Ottoman identity), and three rings (Trinity) were discussed as mysterious images that everyone interpreted in their own way and that could be pulled in any direction. The images gave rise to peace and hope in some; fear, anger, and threat in others; religious enthusiasm in some; and a defensive reflex in others. So much so that the framing of the visit logo as a "rising cross-fading tulip" in some media outlets was a powerful example of how easily the symbolic field can become fragile.

At this very point, a short but symbolically intense scene that marked the visit emerged: the image of a Turkish officer saluting Pope Leo XIV as he was welcomed at Anıtkabir. This frame suddenly turned into a controversial symbol on digital media. Because the soldier figure in Turkey has been seen as the institutional representative of secularism since the founding of the Republic of Turkey. For this reason, the meeting of the soldier and the Pope, who is a head of state but also represents religious authority, in the same frame produced a remarkable tension in terms of cultural memory. Although the salute given as per protocol did not carry a legally problematic situation, it revived secularism debates and concerns at a symbolic level. However, the real reason why this scene occupied a large place on the agenda was not the ceremony itself, but the fact that the image turned into a political text as soon as it entered digital circulation. With the accumulation of emotions on objects, the image acquired characteristics that recalled historical memory regarding the religion-state relationship where secularism concerns were triggered, producing national discomfort. The photograph became an ideological and cultural signifier.

The Pope's visit to Turkey clearly showed us this: The meaning of symbols in digital media is slippery, unfixable, and constantly being rewritten. No matter how much rituals and images are planned, the moment they fall in front of the camera and into the social media feed, they move with a completely different energy. The screen transforms the ritual. The algorithm accelerates the ritual. Social memory, on the other hand, interprets and magnifies it, turning it into a field of conflict or consensus.

Ultimately, the Pope's visit to Turkey will be remembered as an important indicator of how fragile, fragmented, and rapidly consumable the symbolic field has become in terms of the relationship between digital media and representation. This visit showed us that state ceremonies, every ritual is a media object, every image is an ideological fragment, and every symbol is a field of struggle. And most importantly, it reminded us that the country's and its citizens' sensitivity to the principle of secularism is still alive and strong enough to be activated even in a single moment of a salute.