Beirut: Pope Leo XIV landed in Lebanon on Sunday aiming to bring a message of hope to its long-suffering people and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.
He arrived at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country after years of successive crises. Leo is fulfilling a promise of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit for years but was unable to as his health worsened.
Lebanon is the second leg of Leo’s first official foreign trip, after Turkiye, where he marked an important Christian anniversary coming at a time as the predominantly Sunni Muslim country of over 85 million has positioned itself as a key intermediary in talks to end the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. Leo had two key appointments in Istanbul before flying to Beirut: a prayer at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral and a divine liturgy with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, whose invitation was the impetus for his visit.