US EditionPope wraps up Turkey visit and heads to Beirut to try to give Lebanese hope after years of crises
Pope Leo XIV aims to inspire Lebanon's 1.9 million Christians to stay amid economic collapse, war, and the 2020 Beirut port blast, fulfilling Pope Francis's promise.
- On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV will arrive in Beirut, Lebanon from Istanbul for his first foreign trip since his May election and will depart for Rome on Tuesday after a three-day visit.
- Amid economic and social shocks, Lebanese Christians hope the visit offers comfort after years of conflict as Lebanon's Christian community, still 30 to 35 percent of the population, reckons with the 2020 Port of Beirut blast that killed more than 230 people.
- Organizers have set up the waterfront stage and tens of thousands of chairs for the Beirut waterfront Mass expecting more than 150,000 attendees, with a silent prayer planned at the Port of Beirut blast site on Tuesday.
- Lebanese authorities declared a two-day public holiday as Lebanese abroad and foreign visitors travel for the visit, with supporters saying it shows Lebanese they are not alone.
- A week before landing, an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah military commander in Beirut, while Hezbollah has not fired on Israel since the ceasefire on November 27 last year.
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288 Articles
Historic Papal Trip Concludes With a Renewed Sense of Hope
Pope Leo XIV is welcomed to the cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Istanbul by young people making the traditional offering of bread and salt as Archbishop Sahak II Mashalian, the Armenian Apostolic patriarch of Constantinople, looks on Nov. 30, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) Wrapping up his first papal trip abroad to Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV left the region on Dec. 2 with a renewed sense of hope for religious unity between t…
It is more the "post-pope" than the pope himself who has been worrying the Lebanese these days.
Leo XIV's appeal to peace and dialogue between religions, meeting the main Christian, Muslim and Druze leaders. Lebanon as a "powerful example" of coexistence, although marked by economic crisis, political instability and Israeli attacks. Like St. John Paul II in 1980 warned against the risks of his disappearance. But for some observers on those who undermine the country with their behaviors was also too mild.
Pope Leo XIV arrived on Sunday 30 November in Beirut, capital of Lebanon, on a historic visit marked by a message of peace, solidarity and hope
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