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Pope Leo has urged political leaders in Lebanon to make peace their highest priority in a forceful appeal as he is visiting the country, which remains a target of Israeli airstrikes, on the second leg of his first overseas trip as Catholic leader.
Leo, the first US pope, arrived in Beirut on Sunday from a four-day visit to Turkey where he warned that humanity’s future was at risk because of the world’s unusual number of bloody conflicts, and condemned violence in the name of religion.
Addressing a presidential palace chamber packed with politicians and religious leaders from Lebanon’s many sects, he opened his speech by repeating the words of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Using the word peace more than 20 times during his speech, Leo said Lebanon must now persevere with peace efforts despite facing a “highly complex, conflictual and uncertain” regional situation in a speech attended by the president, Joseph Aoun, the prime minister, Nawaf Salam, and other leaders.
Aoun said: “In our country and in our region there is much anguish and many people in pain.” He added that Lebanon was a country “where Christians and Muslims live, different but equal”.
Hours before Leo’s arrival, crowds gathered along the roads from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags.
Lebanon, which has the largest population share of Christians in the Middle East, has been rocked by the spillover of the war in Gaza, as Israel and the Lebanese Shia Muslim militant group Hezbollah went to war, culminating in a devastating Israeli offensive.
Randa Sahyoun, a Lebanese woman living in Qatar who travelled home for the pope’s visit, said: “We want him to plant peace in the hearts of politicians so that we can live a comfortable life in Lebanon.”
Leo said it takes tenacity to build peace, adding that “the commitment and love for peace know no fear in the face of apparent defeat”.
Leaders in Lebanon, which hosts 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is also struggling to recover from years of economic crisis, are worried Israel will dramatically escalate its strikes in coming months.
Israel says its continued strikes since last year’s ceasefire agreement are to prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing military capabilities and posing a renewed threat to communities in northern Israel.
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, said on Friday that he hoped Leo’s visit would help bring an end to Israeli attacks. Hezbollah’s most senior member of parliament, Mohammad Raad, attended Leo’s speech.
Leo, a relative unknown on the world stage before becoming pope in May, is being closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and interacts for the first time with people outside mainly Catholic Italy.
Leo, 70 and in good health, has a crowded itinerary in Lebanon, visiting five cities and towns from Sunday to Tuesday, when he returns to Rome. Leo will not travel to the south, the target of Israeli strikes, and he did not mention Israel in his speech.
