By Christopher Lamb and Billy Stockwell, NCS
Beirut (NCS) — Pope Leo XIV touched down in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Sunday with the hope of being a “messenger of peace” as he started a three-day visit to the nation on the coronary heart of a Middle East battered by current conflicts.
Large crowds, some holding Lebanese and Vatican flags, lined the streets awaiting the arrival of the primary American pontiff to the presidential palace in Baabda, the place Leo is quickly attributable to tackle the nation’s authorities and civil society. More spectators gathered inside palace grounds in the hopes of recognizing the pope, donning plastic raincoats beneath a grey sky.
Leo’s go to will provide help to Lebanon’s sizeable Christian minority, which has historical roots in the nation. The pontiff is because of meet political leaders and younger folks, participate in an inter-religious gathering and have fun mass on the Beirut waterfront as a part of the second leg of his first foreign trip since his election in May.
Leo can be anticipated to proceed his calls for dialogue and unity at a time of heightened tensions in the area and simply days after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut.
The strike, which focused Hezbollah’s Chief of Staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, killed five people and injured 28, in response to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Moments earlier than arriving in Beirut, Leo informed reporters aboard the papal airplane that he had come to Lebanon and Turkey – the primary port of call on his worldwide journey – as a “messenger” to “promote peace throughout the region.”
He additionally reiterated the Holy See’s help for a two-state answer for Israelis and Palestinians, saying it’s the solely solution to provide a “solution to the conflict they continually live.”
“We seek with both sides to be a mediating voice that can help to draw close to a solution with justice for all,” Leo stated.
One cease on Leo’s tour would be the Monastery of Mar Maroun, or Saint Maroun, in the city of Annaya, excessive in the Lebanese mountains. There, he’s anticipated to hope on the tomb of Charbel Makhlouf, a monk recognized for bringing folks of various faiths collectively.
Lebanon has 18 formally acknowledged faiths and sects – together with 12 Christian communities – with Shia Muslims now Lebanon’s single largest sect. Leo is because of have personal conferences with Christian leaders, in addition to with Muslim and Druze leaders.
On Tuesday, the ultimate day of his go to, Leo will pray on the website of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, which left greater than 200 folks lifeless and injured at the least 6,000 others. He will then depart for Italy’s capital Rome.
Earlier this week, whereas condemning the usage of faith for justifying “war,” Leo urged Catholics to mobilize their religion and unify others “regardless of ethnicity, nationality, religion or personal perspectives.”
“We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism,” Leo mirrored.
Leo’s journey comes at a tense time, one 12 months after an uneasy truce was established between Israel and Hezbollah by US mediation.
The Vatican has lengthy been engaged in diplomacy in the Middle East, and in 2021 the late Pope Francis hosted Lebanese Christian leaders in the Vatican to deal with the nation’s political disaster. The final papal go to to Lebanon happened in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.
NCS’s Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.
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