Pope Leo XIV Urges Lebanon's Leaders to Set Aside Divisions and Become True Peacemakers

Under heavy rain on Sunday, a dance troupe performed dabke at the entrance to Lebanon's presidential palace as Pope Leo XIV's convoy arrived. The pope had landed in Beirut from Istanbul, the second leg of his first foreign trip as pontiff, with a Lebanese military jet escorting his plane. At the airport he was greeted by President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

Inside the palace, Leo told Lebanon's political leaders to be true peacemakers and to put their differences aside. He did not directly mention the war fought last year or the argument over disarming Hezbollah, but he acknowledged what the Lebanese have endured. They have suffered, he said, from an economy that kills, from global instability with devastating repercussions in the Levant, and from the radicalization of identities and conflicts. Yet they have always wanted, and known how, to start again.

The visit fulfills a promise made by Pope Francis, who wanted to come for years but could not, because of Lebanon's crises and his own worsening health. Francis often quoted St. John Paul II, who said in 1989 that Lebanon was a message of fraternity and coexistence. The country's sectarian power-sharing system reserves the presidency for a Maronite Christian, the premiership for a Sunni Muslim and the speaker's post for a Shiite. That system has been prone to long power vacuums and stalemates, including over the investigation into the 2020 port explosion.

Security was unusually tight. Leo travelled through Beirut in a closed popemobile, a highly rare measure, with Lebanese troops lining both sides of the road and a helicopter overhead. The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, declined to discuss vehicles or precautions. The visit came a week after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed five people, including a senior Hezbollah official.

The backdrop is a run of crises. In 2019 the currency and banking system collapsed, wiping out savings and bringing shortages of electricity, fuel and medicine. In August 2020, hundreds of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded at the Beirut port, killing 218 people, wounding thousands and causing billions of dollars in damage. Many Lebanese blamed government negligence. The investigation has repeatedly stalled and, five years on, no official has been convicted. Then came a two-month war between Israel and Hezbollah last year, which killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire nominally ended it, but Israel still carries out near-daily airstrikes, saying it aims to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.

The country is deeply divided over calls for Hezbollah to disarm. Hezbollah, a primarily Shiite group, is allied with Christian parties including the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada Movement. The Lebanese Forces, the Christian party with the largest parliamentary bloc, opposes it and has criticized it for dragging Lebanon into war. Before Leo arrived, Hezbollah urged him to reject the injustice and aggression it says Lebanon faces, and asked supporters to line the route from the airport. Hundreds did, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags past bombed-out buildings. Mounir Younes, who leads a Hezbollah-affiliated scout troupe, said they wanted to show the importance of coexistence and national unity.

Others came with simpler hopes. Bishop George, archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut, said the visit shows Lebanon is not forgotten, and that people still fear a return to all-out war. Farah Saadeh, walking Beirut's seaside promenade, said the pope was coming to bless the country and for the sake of peace, and that she hoped nothing would happen after he left. A delegation of about 300 Syrian Christians, led by a Greek Melkite Catholic priest, crossed into Lebanon to meet Leo with youth groups and to attend a public Mass on the Beirut waterfront. Dima Awwad, 24, said they need someone like the pope to give them hope amid fear of an unknown future, and wished he would visit Syria too.

Before Lebanon, Leo spent time in Turkey, where he prayed at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral and joined Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for a divine liturgy. He praised the courageous Christian witness of Armenians, a reference to the World War I-era killings, but was more diplomatic than Francis, who called them genocide. The most closely watched moment in Lebanon comes Tuesday, his last day, when he is to lead a silent prayer at the port blast site and meet some victims. Many Lebanese hope he will press their politicians for accountability.