BEIRUT — Pope Leo XIV is in Lebanon on his first visit to the Middle East since he was chosen as leader of the world's Catholics in May. He arrives at a pivotal time for the country, buffeted by conflict with Israel and a devastating economic crisis.
The pope arrived Sunday evening from Turkey, his first foreign destination, where he commemorated the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in present-day Iznik, the origin of a testament of faith still recited world-wide in churches today.
On Monday morning, well-wishers, many wearing rain-coats, lined the roads behind a metal railing under drizzly skies as his convoy made its way through the winding roads near Beirut to the mountain-top tomb of a 19th century hermit now recognized as Saint Charbel Makhlouf. Some threw rose petals at the popemobile as it made its way to the Maroun Monastery.
At the tomb of the saint recognized for his miracles of healing, Pope Leo spoke of Charbel's silence, humbleness and poverty, which he described as "radical" qualities counter-cultural to modern life.
The pope presented a gift of a hand-made votive lamp entwined with silver olive branches, saying he entrusted "Lebanon and its people to Saint Charbel so they would always walk in the light of Christ."
Lebanon played an important role in the history of early Christianity. The Galilee where Christians believe Jesus preached extends into part of present-day south Lebanon. The Maroun monastery dates back to a century after Jesus was crucified.
Christians are believed to comprise about 30% of the Lebanese population, although there has not been a precise figure since the last census, under French rule in 1932. Christians accounted for more than half of Lebanon's population at the time.
The country is now majority Muslim, but Christians still hold more political power than in any other country in the region. By convention, the post of Lebanese president is reserved for a Maronite Catholic.
Arriving from Turkey, the pope urged Lebanese leaders to forge peace and offer hope to the country's people.
Many Lebanese citizens have left the country since Lebanon's financial collapse in 2019 and a devastating explosion at Beirut's port the following year, which highlighted state dysfunction and corruption. Lebanese migrants are disproportionately Christian, partly because they have been welcomed by many Western countries.
On Monday, Pope Leo XIV visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in nearby Harissa, a major pilgrimage site. He spoke about the future of the Church in Lebanon and listened to a priest, a nun, and a domestic worker describe the suffering of Christians and Muslims during recent conflicts.
A priest from the north of Lebanon, Yohanna Fuad Fahad, described trying to help Syrian refugees who flooded across the border during Syria's 14-year-long civil war only to be faced with Lebanon's economic crisis and left with no electricity, running water or any way to make a living.
He said more refugees, terrified and impoverished, quietly arrived after the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime by rebel fighters last December. Father Yohanna said he realized it only after seeing Syrian coins in the alms plate at Sunday Mass. He said he went in search of people to help and said the church needed to reach out and support those suffering.
A nun, Sister Dima, related her decision to stay in Balbaak, a mostly Shiite town in the Bekaa valley, during the war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, to be able to care for Christian and Muslim families in need.
And a church volunteer and domestic worker from the Philippines who gave her name only as Lauren, described a small family of foreign workers deliberately locked in a house by their employer who fled during the fighting. Escaping from the house, she says they walked three days with their newborn to reach the church for help.
"Through our church's mission I have witnessed miracles…small acts of love that change lives," she said.
The pope, appearing moved, evoked his predecessor Pope Francis, who had stressed that Christians could not remain indifferent to tragedy and sorrow.
Pope Leo spoke of the need to offer opportunities to young people: "It is necessary, even among the rubble of a world that has its own painful failures, to offer them concrete and viable prospects for rebirth and future growth."
No Visit to the South
The papal convoy drove on newly paved roads — the same roads that had been previously abandoned by Lebanon's financial and economic ongoing crisis.
"They started work on the roads in 2018 and then stopped because of the economic crisis and the coronavirus lockdown and then everything else," says Hanady Moukawem, head of the municipality of Daroun-Harissa, just before the visit. She described the pope's trip here as a symbol of hope that there will be better times.
On Tuesday the pope holds a prayer Mass at Beirut's waterfront close to the site of the explosion before concluding the visit.
His visit focuses on Beirut and the north of the country. According to local church officials, the Vatican decided it was too potentially dangerous to visit the south of Lebanon where Israel has launched almost daily attacks despite a year-old ceasefire.
Hezbollah - the Lebanese Shia militia and political party - has held its fire since the ceasefire and is under intense pressure from the Lebanese government to give up its remaining weapons.
Many of the Christian villages along the border with Israel have suffered the same devastation as Muslim border villages, with destroyed homes and infrastructure.
In the Lebanese village of Canaa, where Jesus is said to have performed his first miracle of turning water into wine, Christians now comprise only about 10 percent of the population. For many leaving the country, the first stop is the Lebanese capital.
"It happened in stages," since the 1950s until now," says Chakib Hadad, a retired math teacher and former local church council member in Canaa. "They go to Beirut to work in the factories or other places. They sell their land here and buy apartments and that's it."
Copyright 2025 NPR
