Pope Leo urges Lebanon’s leaders to unite for peace

Pope Leo challenged Lebanon’s political leaders on Sunday 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.

At Beirut airport, where his plane landed with a Lebanese military jet escort, Pope Leo XIV was greeted first by President Joseph Aoun, then by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

Leo arrived in Beirut from Istanbul on the second leg of his maiden voyage as pope, where he encouraged the Lebanese people to persevere at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country after years of successive crises.

The country is facing economic uncertainty, deep political divisions and fears of a new war with Israel.

Leo is fulfilling a promise of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit Lebanon for years but was unable to because of its crises and as his health worsened.

Lebanon’s political system, based on sectarian power-sharing, has been prone to deadlock with lengthy power vacuums and regular stalemates over controversial issues, including the investigation into the deadly Beirut port explosion in 2020.