Pope Leo urges Lebanese leaders to make peace highest priority | Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo made a strong appeal to political leaders in Lebanon to make peace their top priority as he visited the country, which remains the target of Israeli airstrikes, on the second leg of his first foreign trip as a Catholic leader.
Leo, the first pope of the United States, came to Beirut on Sunday after a four-day visit to Türkiye and warned that the future of humanity was at risk due to the unusual number of bloody conflicts in the world and condemned violence in the name of religion.
Addressing a presidential palace auditorium packed with politicians and religious leaders from Lebanon’s many sects, he opened his speech by echoing the words of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Leo, who used the word peace more than 20 times during his speech, said in the speech attended by president Joseph Aoun, prime minister Nawaf Salam and other leaders that Lebanon must now continue its peace efforts despite facing an “extremely complex, conflictual and uncertain” regional situation.
He also encouraged Lebanese to stay in their country rather than emigrate, telling them, “There are times when it is easier to escape or when it is more convenient to move somewhere else. It takes real courage and foresight to stay or return to one’s own country.”
He urged them to choose “the path of reconciliation” and called on the country’s leaders to put themselves “at the service of your people with commitment and dedication.”
There was no real reconciliation process following the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon, and the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has deepened divisions.
Aoun said: “There is so much suffering in our country and in our region, and so many people are suffering.” He added that Lebanon is “a different but equal country where Christians and Muslims live.”
Hours before Leo’s arrival, crowds gathered on the roads leading from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags.
Lebanon, where Christians have the largest share of the population in the Middle East, was shaken by the spread of the war in Gaza, as Israel and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah entered a war that culminated in a devastating Israeli attack.
Randa Sahyoun, a Lebanese living in Qatar who went to the Pope’s home for his visit, said: “We want him to place peace in the hearts of politicians so that we can live a comfortable life in Lebanon.”
Leo said that building peace requires perseverance, adding that “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 trying to recover from a years-long economic crisis, are worried that Israel will dramatically increase its attacks in the coming months.
Israel says its ongoing offensives since last year’s ceasefire agreement are to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its military capabilities and posing a new threat to communities in northern Israel.
Hezbollah leader Naim Kasim said on Friday that he hoped Leo’s visit would help put an end to Israeli attacks. Hezbollah’s most senior member of parliament, Mohammed Raad, also attended Leo’s speech.
Leo, relatively unknown on the world stage before becoming pope in May, is being closely watched as he gives his first speeches abroad and interacts with people outside Catholic Italy for the first time.
Leo, who is 70 years old and in good health, has a busy travel schedule in Lebanon; He visits five cities and towns from Sunday to Tuesday, when he returns to Rome. Leo will not go to the south, which is the target of Israeli attacks, and did not mention Israel in his speech.
