Vatican News photo.
Istanbul: Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his visit to Turkiye on Sunday before heading to Lebanon, where he aimed to bring a message of hope to its long-suffering people and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported.
On the second leg of his maiden papal trip, Leo will visit Lebanon at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country after years of successive crises. He is fulfilling a promise of Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit for years, but was unable to as his health worsened.
Francis often quoted St. John Paul II, who in 1989 said that Lebanon was more than just a country. It was a “message” — a message of fraternity and coexistence. Under Lebanon's power-sharing system, the country's president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker a Shiite.
Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, has always been a priority for the Vatican, a bulwark for Christians throughout the region. After years of conflict, Christian communities that date from the time of the Apostles have shrunk.
Leo was expected to try to encourage Lebanese who believe their leaders have failed them, and to encourage Lebanese Christians to stay or, if they have already moved abroad, to come home.
In 2019, the country's currency and banking system collapsed, and many Lebanese saw their savings evaporate. The financial crisis drove shortages of electricity, fuel and medicine.
Another disaster followed in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at the Beirut port detonated in an explosion that blasted through the surrounding neighbourhoods, killing 218 people, wounding thousands more and causing billions of dollars in damage.
The highlight of Leo's Lebanese visit will come on his last day, Dec. 2, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the blast on Aug. 4, 2020, and meets with some of its victims.