Following his historic visit to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV embarked on his first apostolic journey to Lebanon, a nation known as the land of cedars. Lebanon has been deeply marked by conflict and crisis, including recent bombings and years of economic collapse. Its people are looking to the pope’s visit with great hope, seeing in it a symbol of unity, peace, and renewal.
For many Lebanese, the pope’s presence represents a source of enduring encouragement, “to bring hope, Christian hope that is for everybody, for Christians and not Christians, hope that never dies, that never lets you down. I expect that hearts would be touched by his message.”
Vescovo Jule added, “a few days after the bombing of Beirut, he did not withdraw; he did not cancel his visit. For us, this is a very courageous act — to come here, to a country at war, to bring peace, to build peace together.”
The pope began his morning in profound stillness at the tomb of Saint Charbel, a Maronite monk venerated across multiple religions and canonized by Pope Paul VI. Pope Leo XIV is the first pope to pray at Saint Charbel’s monastery, making this visit a symbol of solidarity and interreligious coexistence, as Muslims also come here on pilgrimage.
From Saint Charbel’s monastery, Pope Leo traveled to Harissa, home to the Marian sanctuary of Our Lady of Lebanon. Since 1908, this shrine has been a spiritual center, a place of pilgrimage, and a hub for interfaith dialogue. The Rector of the Sanctuary of Harissa explained: “for Muslims and Christians — because they too venerate the Madonna — Mary is also present in the Qur’an; they have great esteem and respect for the Madonna.”
The pope met with clergy, religious, and pastoral workers in a moment that combined prayer with a strong expression of communion and unity within the Church.
Later in the day, thousands of young people from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and across the Middle East gathered to welcome the pope. The vibrant event highlighted Lebanon’s youthful energy and its deep desire for a peaceful, shared future.
Several young attendees shared their excitement:
“To be honest, I am really happy to see the pope to meet him as you can see it’s a very big joy to gather all of us, all the youth of all Christians to meet the pope to listen and to see what he has to say to us.”
“This is Lebanon, our church is always alive, every event you can see all this youth… and we are so honoured to welcome pope Leo in our land and in our homes, because today he unites us, the youth of the whole Lebanon and as you can see everybody is happy.”
Lebanon is home to one of the Middle East’s largest Christian populations, which makes up roughly 30 percent of the country’s population, living alongside Muslims and other minority communities.
Pope Leo addressed the young generation directly:
“There is hope within you, a gift that we adults seem to have lost. You have more time to dream, to plan and to do good.”
His message underscored the importance of hope, dialogue, and active engagement in shaping Lebanon’s future.
Adapted by Jacob Stein. Produced by Alexey Gotovskiy.
