Pope Leo XIV’s visits holy sites in Lebanon on Monday that draw Christian and Muslims as he seeks to recognize the importance of the country’s religious pluralism and also send a message to Christians not to abandon the region.
Over the past few decades, hundreds of thousands of Christians have left parts of the Middle East for good, driven by wars and the rise of Muslim extremists.
Leo arrived in Beirut on Sunday after a visit to Turkey that began on Nov. 27. He challenged Lebanon’s political leaders to be true peacemakers and put their differences aside as he sought to give Lebanon’s long-suffering people a message of hope and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.
A Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, Lebanon always has been a priority for the Vatican as a bulwark for Christians throughout the region.
Despite the many crises that have battered the small nation, Christians in Lebanon continue to enjoy religious freedom and significant political influence. Since gaining independence from France in 1943, a power sharing agreement has been in place in which Lebanon’s president is a Maronite, the parliament speaker is a Shiite Muslim and the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim.
This makes Lebanon the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.
Leo visits the Tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf and the Shrine of of Our Lady of Lebanon on Monday, both north of the capital. The sites draw large numbers of Christian and Muslim visitors and pilgrims.
He also is set to hold an interreligious meeting with leaders of other sects in central Beirut and meet young groups at the Maronite patriarchate.
Here is the latest:
Pope Leo XIV is opening his first full day in Lebanon with a visit to the tomb of a saint revered among Christians and Muslims throughout the region.
Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the monastery of St. Maroun in Annaya to pray at the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf, a Lebanese Maronite hermit who lived from 1828 to 1898. He is known today for many alleged miraculous healings that have occurred after people prayed for his intercession.
Leo’s visit to the tomb, the first by a pope, opens a busy day.
History’s first American pope will meet with Catholic priests and nuns at a shrine in Harissa and then preside over an interfaith gathering with some of Lebanon’s Muslim leaders in Beirut.
He will end the day in Bkerke at a rally for Lebanese young people. Leo is expected to encourage them to persevere despite Lebanon’s many crises and challenges.
Leo arrived Sunday in Lebanon from Turkey, where he opened his first trip as pope. He wraps up his visit on Tuesday with a prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port blast and a Mass on the waterfront.