The Latest: Pope Leo celebrates Lebanon’s interfaith coexistence as he visits holy sites

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Beirut on Sunday after a visit to Turkey that began last week. He challenged Lebanon’s political leaders to be true peacemakers and put their differences aside as he sought to give the country’s long-suffering people a message of hope and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.

Earlier in the day, Leo visited holy sites in Lebanon that draw Christian and Muslims, seeking to recognize the importance of the country’s religious pluralism and to send a message to Christians not to abandon the region.

Leo arrived in Beirut on Sunday after a visit to Turkey that began on Nov. 27.

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.

Here is the latest:

Thousands of jubilant young Lebanese people – dancing, bouncing, singing and cheering – have welcomed Pope Leo XIV at his final event of the day.

For hours these young people waited for Leo at the picturesque seat of the Maronite Catholic church in Bkerki. They went wild when he arrived, cheering as he looped around the hilltop piazza of the patriarchate in an open golf cart.

“This is an unforgettable moment,” said Nawal Ghossein, a Maronite Catholic who welcomed the pope with a group from her church. “We are so proud because we are Christians. So proud!”

However, the event recalled some of Lebanon’s tragedies: Young people presented Leo with pieces of charred wood from a house destroyed in the 2020 Beirut blast, and a stone from a church that was destroyed in the recent war between Hezbollah and Israel.

A top Lebanese Shiite Muslim cleric called on Pope Leo XIV to work on helping Lebanon by working to end Israel’s attacks on the crisis-torn nation.

The comments by Ali al-Khatib, deputy head of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, came amid rising concerns in Lebanon of wider Israeli attacks a year after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire nominally ended the latest war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“We put Lebanon in your hands so that maybe the world will help us,” al-Khatib said.

He added that the top of Lebanon’s demands and hopes is to stop “the Israeli aggression and the repercussions its leaves on our people.”

Since last year’s ceasefire, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding and target Hezbollah members. Around 300 people have been killed in the past year, including 127 who the United Nations classified as civilians.

The Sunni Muslim grand mufti in Lebanon welcomed Pope Leo XIV in the country, where people of different religions coexist.

Abdul-Latif Derian in a speech during an interfaith dialogue in Beirut Monday wished the pope the best of luck in “leading the Christian ship for the good of humanity.”

Derian said that such efforts toward closer relations between different religions were mentioned in the 2019 Document of Human Fraternity that was signed by the late Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayeb.

“Lebanon is the land of this message,” Derian said.

At an interfaith meeting in downtown Beirut, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John X Yazigi welcomed Pope XIV in Lebanon Monday, describing the small nation as a “unique country that breaths through both its lungs, the Muslim and Christian.”

Yazigi, who is from Syria, welcomed the pope “near Syria and near Palestine in this Middle East that you chose to be your first trip abroad, as if you are telling Christians of the east that they are in your mind.”

Ahead of an interreligious gathering with the pope in downtown Beirut, Sheikh Yahya Abdulkhalek, 40, of the Druze minority group said Leo’s visit is an opportunity to bring Lebanon’s sects together at a time where “we have been distant in a way.”

The Druze are an 10th-century Islamic offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam, predominantly in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel.

“As a unitarian Muslim (Druze), we always called to have this gathering and for unity among the sects,” said Abdulkhalek.

Another attendee, Mia Farah, showed the gift bag she had received, containing copies of the Quran and the Bible.

When asked her religion, she said, “I am Lebanese.”

Spiritual leaders and senior clerics of Lebanon’s many Islamic and Christian sects gathered on a stage in Beirut’s central Martyrs’ Square waiting for Pope Leo XIV’s arrival to hold an interfaith dialogue to promote peace and coexistence.

Among them were Sunni Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian and Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna. Vice President of the Supreme Islamic Shia Council Sheikh Ali al-Khatib represented the Shiite sect.

An interfaith choir and band of Lebanese children performed songs calling for peace and unity, with the word “peace” in Arabic and Latin written on the side of the stage.

Pope Leo XIV is having lunch with Catholic patriarchs at the Vatican’s apostolic residence before his key afternoon events in Lebanon. In the late afternoon Leo will head to Martyrs’ Square in Beirut for one of the highlights of his visit: a gathering of Christian patriarchs and Muslim leaders to emphasize a message of interfaith peace and coexistence. His final event of the day was a meeting with the country’s young people.

Pope Leo XIV urged Lebanon’s priests and nuns to offer hope and love to their flocks in the face of injustices, oppression and conflict.

Leo offered a word of encouragement during a raucous encounter Monday with Lebanon’s Catholic clergy and sisters at the Our Lady of Lebanon sanctuary in Harissa, north of Beirut.

The American pope heard testimonies from Lebanese priests about the difficulties and joys of being Christian in a region torn by conflict, “when surrounded by the sound of weapons and when the very necessities of daily life become a challenge.”

He was interrupted by applause as he urged them to find hope and share love.

“Only in this way can we free ourselves of injustice and oppression, even when, as we have heard, we are betrayed by people and organizations that ruthlessly exploit the desperation of those who have no alternative,” Leo said, speaking in French.

Pope Leo XIV received a raucous, cheering welcome from priests and nuns at the seat of the Maronite church in Lebanon.

Women in the crowd ululated and others shouted, “Viva il Papa,” meaning “Long live the pope,” as Leo arrived at the Our Lady of Lebanon Basilica in Harissa, a town north of Beirut.

They reached out to touch him and kissed his hand while he made his way to the front of the sanctuary.

Pope Leo XIV has prayed for peace at the tomb of a Lebanese saint revered by Christians and Muslims on the first full day of his visit to Lebanon.

Leo travelled Monday to the hilltop monastery of St. Maroun in Annaya to pray at the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf.

Speaking in French, the American pope prayed for communion and unity in the church and peace for Lebanon and the region.

“Sisters and brothers, today we entrust to St. Charbel’s intercession the needs of the church, Lebanon and the world,” he said. “For the world, we ask for peace. We especially implore it for Lebanon and for the entire Levant.”

His visit comes at a tenuous time for the tiny Mediterranean country after years of economic crises and political deadlock, punctuated by the 2020 Beirut port blast and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the region.

A Catholic priest described Pope XIV’s trip to Lebanon as a “visit of hope” to the crisis-hit nation.

Father Youssef Nasr, the secretary-general of Catholic Schools in Lebanon, was waiting for Leo to arrive at the Our Lady of Lebanon Basilica in the town of Harissa, north of Beirut.

“I believe that we, as Lebanese, need this visit after all the wars, crises and despair that we have lived,” Nasr said. “The pope’s visit gives a new push to the Lebanese to rise and cling to their country. This is the message of His Holiness.”

The visit also is a call for youth to stay in Lebanon and build a future there rather than going abroad in search of stability and work opportunities, he said.

“It is our hope that the young men and women abide by the pope’s call to cling to their country and look forward to building their hopes and dreams in Lebanon,” he said.

Lebanese Christian pilgrims were anxiously waiting in two serene sites for Pope Leo XIV’s arrival on the second day of his stay in the tiny Mediterranean country.

In the northern village of Annaya, pilgrims held flags waited in the rain for the pope’s arrival, whose visit carries a message of peace and coexistence for Lebanon and the region going through turmoil.

“We will stay here (in Lebanon), no one can uproot us from this country,” May Noon said outside the St. Charbel Makhlouf Monastery. “We must live it in it as brothers because the church has no enemy we need to live as brothers in this country.”

In Harissa, pilgrims and clergymen waited near the iconic Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, a statue of the Virgin Mary atop a hill towering over the country.

Lebanon is going through economic turmoil, internal political tensions and fear of renewed war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

“The real martyrdom of Jesus Christ is among us, telling us that Lebanon is very important. We must save it, sacrifice for it and remain steadfast in it,” Priest Hanna Rahme said.

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.