AFP – Pope Leo XIV sets foot on Lebanese soil on Sunday in a visit that Lebanese officials describe as “historic in terms of timing and content.” It comes amid fears of a new bloody phase, as the year-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah threatens to unravel.
The Pope’s carefully selected three-day itinerary is packed with meetings, including with the president, parliamentarians and ministers, as well as visits to the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya and the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa.
In addition, he will offer a silent prayer at the site of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion with survivors and victims’ families, where he is expected to call for justice nearly five years after the blast devastated the surrounding city.
Leo’s visit to Lebanon conveys a message for the Lebanese in general, and Christians in particular, that the world cares about them and that the Vatican stands by them in times of ongoing crisis, offering hope and peace.
Leo preceded his first visit with a speech in which he said: “Lebanon has suffered enough.” It is no coincidence that the Pope chose the Christian teaching “Blessed are the peacemakers” as his message to the Lebanese.
In a statement, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi described the Pope’s visit to Lebanon as “an opportunity to take a fresh look at the host country, in light of the lack of internal and external bridges of trust in Lebanon, which has been left alone to its fate.
“This requires highlighting the messages that Pope Leo XIV will convey, confirming that he and the leaders of the Catholic Church stand with Lebanon, where the foundations of coexistence are valued.”
Leo will carry, according to Al-Rahi, “a message of peace and hope, which is urgently needed by the Lebanese people, who have forgotten the essence of their leading role in the Arab Levant region.”
This role, he said, is “centred on their model of coexistence and the value of our small, unique country in the hope that it will be accompanied locally by prayer and the taking of decisive national decisions to shoulder the full responsibility that the pope has placed before us.”
This will “complete a process that requires establishing Lebanon as a land of dialogue between cultures and civilizations, and of meetings and conferences on human rights and the rights of peoples, without neglecting the priority of embracing the principle of positive neutrality, without which the Lebanese cannot live and which is the fundamental gateway to reminding us of our role and mission, which is greater than narrow political and partisan calculations.”
