Pope in Lebanon prays for peace at tomb of saint revered by Christians and Muslims alike
ANNAYA, Lebanon (AP) — Pope Leo XIV On Monday, he prayed at the grave of a Lebanese saint revered among Christians and Muslims, who opened his first day in Lebanon with a message of peace and harmony. religious association in a conflict-torn region.
As the bells rang, thousands of enthusiastic Lebanese braved a morning of persistent rain to follow Leo’s convoy route to Annaya, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Beirut. Some waved Lebanese and Vatican flags and threw flower petals and rice in a welcoming gesture as the covered pope approached the mobile.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come to St. Mary’s Church on the hill overlooking the sea to pray at the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf, a Lebanese Maronite monk who lived from 1828 to 1898. He visits the monastery of Maroun. Makhlouf is known for miraculous healings that allegedly occurred after people prayed for his intercession.
Leo prayed silently in the dark tomb and offered a lamp as a gift of light to the monastery.
“My brothers and sisters, today we entrust the needs of the church, Lebanon and the world to the intercession of St. Charbel,” Leo said in French. “We want peace for the world. We especially want peace for Lebanon and the entire Levant.”
Leo’s visit to the tomb, the first by a pope, marked the beginning of a busy day for history’s first American pope. He will meet with Catholic priests and nuns at a shrine in Harissa and then chair an interfaith meeting with Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim leaders in the capital Beirut.
A message of peace in times of turmoil
There, Leo was expected to voice his core message of peace and Christian-Muslim coexistence in Lebanon and beyond, at a time when conflict in Gaza and political tensions in Lebanon were worse than they had been in years. His visit comes at a lean time for the small Mediterranean country after years of economic crises and political deadlock, punctuated by the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Lately, Lebanon has been deeply divided over appeals for aid. HezbollahThe Lebanese militant group and political party will be disarmed after the war with Israel that deeply scarred the country last year.
Leo traveled around Lebanon in an enclosed papal vehicle, unlike previous Pope Francis, who eschewed bulletproof papal cars throughout his 12-year papacy. Lebanese troops were deployed on both sides of the road along the convoy route.
Leo would end the day with a rally for Lebanese youth in Bkerki, the seat of the Maronite church; here he was expected to encourage them to persevere and not abandon the country like so many others, despite Lebanon’s many difficulties.
Call for Christians to stay
Leo arrived in Lebanon on Sunday from Türkiye, where he made his first trip as pope. He will wrap up his visit on Tuesday with a prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion and a mass on the beach.
Leo in his opening speech He challenged Lebanon’s political leaders trying to put aside their differences and become true peacemakers, while also encouraging Lebanese Christians in particular to remain in the country.
Today, Christians make up about a third of Lebanon’s population of 5 million, giving the small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East.
The power-sharing agreement, in force since independence from France, requires the president to be a Maronite Christian, making Lebanon the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.
The Christian community in Lebanon continues to maintain a presence in its ancestral homeland, even though the rise of the Islamic State led to the exodus of communities in Iraq and Syria dating back to the time of the Apostles.
St. “We’ll stay here,” said May Noon, a pilgrim waiting for Leo outside Charbel Monastery. “No one can remove us from this country, we must live this country as brothers because the church has no enemies.”
Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay accompanied a group of 60 people from the Lebanese diaspora in Australia to welcome Leo and join him in his prayer for peace, as well as strengthening the Christian presence in the country.
“Even though we live abroad, we think we should support young people and families to stay here,” he said as he waited for the pope to meet with clergy in Harissa, north of Beirut. “We don’t like to see more and more people, especially Christians, leaving Lebanon.”
Tarabay said the Lebanese were grateful that Leo chose to visit on his first trip as pope.
“We have people there suffering, we have young people on the verge of despair,” he said. Leo said he decided: “I’m going to go out there and tell them, ‘You’re not forgotten.'”
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Winfield and Chehayab contributed from Beirut; Abbey Sewell contributed from Harissa.
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