Highlights: Pope Leo departs the Middle East and leaves a message of support to the people of Lebanon

In his farewell speech at the Beirut airport at the conclusion of the first foreign trip of his pontificate Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV referenced the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon, including “Biblical places,” and sent a message of support to people of the south.

Christians in the south had been disappointed his visit did not include their areas, which were battered by last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah and are still the target of regular Israeli airstrikes.

“I greet all the regions of Lebanon that I was unable to visit: Tripoli and the north, the Beqaa and the south of the country, which is currently experiencing a state of conflict and uncertainty,” Leo said, referencing the cities of Sidon and Tyre, which are mentioned in the New Testament, as “biblical places.”

“May the attacks and hostilities cease,” he said. “We must recognize that armed struggle brings no benefit. While weapons are lethal, negotiation, mediation and dialogue are constructive.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged the pope to keep Lebanon in his prayers.

The Lebanese are “a faithful people who deserve life — who are worthy of it,” he said. “As we bid you farewell, we do not only part with an honored guest, but with a father who brought us comfort, and reminded us that the world has not forgotten Lebanon.”

Concluding a public Mass on Beirut’s waterfront, Pope Leo XIV has made another call for peace.

“The Middle East needs new approaches in order to reject the mindset of revenge and violence, to overcome political, social and religious divisions, and to open new chapters in the name of reconciliation and peace,” he said. “The path of mutual hostility and destruction in the horror of war has been traveled too long with the deplorable results that are before everyone’s eyes.”

He urged Christians in the region to have courage and faith.

“Dear Christians of the Levant, when the results of your efforts for peace are slow in coming, I invite you to lift your gaze to the Lord who is coming,” Leo said.

The Mass drew an estimated 150,000 people, capping off Leo’s three-day visit to Lebanon before heading to the Beirut airport for a return flight to Rome.

Pope Leo XIV has called for Lebanon to be a “home of justice and fraternity” and a “prophetic sign of peace” in the region.

Leo made the appeal during Mass along the Beirut waterfront on the final day of his visit.

In his homily, Leo acknowledged the many crises that have scarred Lebanon, citing the 2020 Beirut port blast, economic crises and “the violence and conflicts that have reawakened ancient fears.”

He said it is natural to feel “paralyzed by powerlessness in the face of evil and oppressed by so many difficult situations.”

But the pope urged Lebanon’s people to not be resigned and to find ways to remain hopeful and grateful. He insisted, though, that justice was part of the equation.

“Let us cast off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon,” he said. “A Lebanon where peace and justice reign, where all recognize each other as brothers and sisters.”

“Lebanon, stand up,” he said. “Be a home of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic sign of peace for the whole of the Levant!”

Tens of thousands of worshippers packed into an open area on the Beirut waterfront where Pope Leo XIV is set to deliver a public mass before heading back to Rome.

The crowd included President Joseph Aoun and other government leaders as well as people from all walks of life.

Gabriel Raji, who was among the attendees, said, “I think the pope’s visit will give the Lebanese people hope, hope that there will be peace, because we have been waiting for peace for 50 years.”

Lebanon fought a brutal 15-year civil war that began 50 years ago in 1975. Since then, it has faced several other conflicts, including wars between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, the most recent of which nominally ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November 2024, and Israel has continued to launch near-daily airstrikes since then that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.

On Tuesday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more Israeli strikes on the southern village of Aitaroun.

Pope Leo XIV has prayed at the site of a deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion that has become a symbol of Lebanon’s dysfunction, impunity and scars.

Relatives of some of the 218 people killed by the blast held up photos of their loved ones as Leo arrived. They stood silently by the shell of the last standing grain silo destroyed by the blast and the piles of burned cars torched in its wake.

Leo stood in silent prayer among the wreckage.

The Aug. 4, 2020, explosion tore through Beirut and did billions of dollars in damage after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.

Five years on, these families are still seeking justice. No official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was just the latest evidence of impunity after decades of corruption and financial crimes.

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged the Lebanese people to remember the most vulnerable among them.

Leo made an emotional visit Tuesday to the De La Croix hospital, which cares primarily for people with psychological problems.

The mother superior of the congregation that runs the hospital, Mother Marie Makhlouf, was overcome as she welcomed the pope. She told him that her hospital cares for the “forgotten souls, burdened by their loneliness.”

In his remarks to the patients and staff, Leo said the facility stands as a reminder to all of humanity.

“We cannot forget those who are most fragile. We cannot conceive of a society that races ahead at full speed clinging to the false myths of wellbeing, while at the same time ignoring so many situations of poverty and vulnerability,” he said.

The road leading to the hospital was lined by thousands of women, men and children who waved Lebanese and Vatican flags.

The hospital has a capacity of dealing with 1,200 patients and currently has about 700 patients, mostly being treated for mental health illness, epilepsy, and some drug addicts.

About 175 nuns work at the hospital.

“There was a rainbow over the monastery of the cross today. This is a sign of grace and blessing. We will not say anything more than God’s word,” said Jihan Khoriaty, a nun who works at the hospital, when asked what the pope’s visit to the facility meant to her.

“The word of nature today was the biggest good sign,” she said.

A hall in the hospital was packed with hundreds of patients and scores of nuns who gathered to see the pope.

Among those waiting to greet the pope were throngs of children dressed up as Swiss Guards in their colorful golden, red and blue ceremonial uniforms; cardinals in their red cassocks and even a boy dressed as the pope himself in white.

Sister Teresa Azar said seamstresses worked for three months to make the outfits for the children, who are greeting Leo at the De La Croix hospital.

Leo was also meeting with relatives of some of the 218 victims of the blast, which tore through Beirut and did billions of dollars in damage after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.

Five years on, no official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was just the latest crisis after decades of corruption and financial crimes.

The American pope opened his final day Tuesday with a visit to the De La Croix hospital, which specializes in care for people with psychological problems. He was closing it with a Mass along the Beirut waterfront before returning to Rome.