Camille Naredo

Pope Leo XIV leaves following a Divine Liturgy at Patriarchal Church of Saint George, in Istanbul on November 30, 2025. Ozan Kose, AFP

Pope Leo XIV leaves following a Divine Liturgy at Patriarchal Church of Saint George, in Istanbul on November 30, 2025. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP)

Article (news)

POPE LEO

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1764518668354AFP__20251130__86LM6AY__v1__HighRes__TurkeyVaticanPopeDiplomacy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Pope Leo XIV leaves following a Divine Liturgy at Patriarchal Church of Saint George, in Istanbul on November 30, 2025. Ozan Kose, AFP" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Pope Leo XIV leaves following a Divine Liturgy at Patriarchal Church of Saint George, in Istanbul on November 30, 2025. <em>Ozan Kose, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lebanon on Sunday with a message of peace for the crisis-hit nation, still reeling from a war between Israel and Hezbollah and the conflict&#x27;s lingering aftereffects.</p><p>The pope had previously visited Turkey, where he kicked off his maiden overseas tour after being elected leader of the world&#x27;s 1.4 billion Catholics in May.</p><p>Leo arrived in Beirut shortly before 3:45 pm (1345 GMT) and was met by officials including President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world&#x27;s only Christian head of state.</p><p>The two-nation tour is a test for the first American pope, whose understated style contrasts with that of his charismatic and impulsive predecessor, Francis.</p><p>Lebanon rolled out the red carpet and a 21-gun salute for Leo, who was also greeted at the airport by children and a brass band as ships at the port sounded their horns.</p><p>&quot;I came to say that the Lebanese are one people and we are united,&quot; Zahra Nahleh, 19, from Lebanon&#x27;s war-ravaged south, told AFP as she waited along the road from the airport to welcome the pontiff.</p><p>&quot;The pope is not just for Christians but for Muslims too, and we love him a lot... We want him to bless our land, we wish he could visit the south.&quot;</p><p>Although Leo&#x27;s four-day visit drew little attention in Turkey, a Muslim-majority nation whose Christian community numbers only around 100,000, his 48-hour stopover has been eagerly awaited in Lebanon, a religiously diverse country of around six million people.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/11/23/pope-urges-release-of-315-seized-in-nigerian-mass-school-kidnapping-2218">READ: Pope urges release of 315 seized in Nigerian mass school kidnapping</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Hezbollah scouts -</strong></div><p>Long hailed as a model of coexistence, Lebanon since 2019 has been ravaged by successive crises, from economic collapse, to a devastating Beirut port blast in 2020, to the recent war between militant group Hezbollah and Israel, which largely ended with a ceasefire last November.</p><p>Leo is expected to bring a message of peace to the country, whose last papal visitor was Benedict XVI in 2012.</p><p>Christians play a key political role in Lebanon, where the post of president is reserved for a Maronite Christian -- but they have seen their numbers dwindle, particularly due to emigration.</p><p>Leo is to hold talks with Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Berri at the presidential palace, and will make a speech to authorities and diplomats at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).</p><p>Youth scouting groups affiliated with Hezbollah were waiting to welcome the pope along the road in Beirut&#x27;s southern suburbs, where the Iran-backed militants hold sway and where posters of slain chief Hassan Nasrallah appeared near billboards welcoming the pontiff.</p><p>On Saturday, Hezbollah had urged the pope to reject Israeli &quot;injustice and aggression&quot; against Lebanon.</p><p>Israel has kept up regular raids on Lebanon, usually saying it is striking Hezbollah targets, despite the truce that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities, including two months of open war with the group.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;My greatest dream&#x27; -</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tjUoCz7hEkM?autoplay=1&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></div><p>In Turkey, Leo&#x27;s visit was firmly focused on calls for greater unity among different branches of Christianity.</p><div><a class="fr-strong fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/11/28/pope-urges-turkey-to-embrace-mediator-role-on-first-overseas-trip-0831">READ: Pope urges Turkey to embrace mediator role on first overseas trip</a></div><p>He began his trip on Thursday by holding talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</p><p>Then he travelled to Iznik to mark 1,700 years since the First Council of Nicaea, one of the early Church&#x27;s most important gatherings, which he celebrated at an ecumenical service alongside Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the world&#x27;s 260 million Orthodox Christians.</p><p>Saturday saw Leo hold mass in Istanbul with thousands of worshippers braving heavy rain, many of whom had travelled across Turkey for the moving multilingual service.</p><p>On his last day, Leo met privately with a bereaved father whose 14-year-old Italian-Turkish son died in February after being stabbed at a market in Istanbul.</p><p>&quot;Today I cried, but I cried tears of joy, I came for Mattia Ahmet,&quot; Italian chef Andrea Minguzzi said of his son afterwards, thanking the pope for meeting him and &quot;fulfilling one of the greatest dreams of my life&quot;.</p><p>Leo then went to the Armenian Cathedral where he had words of encouragement for the largest of Turkey&#x27;s Christian communities -- at some 50,000 members -- thanking God &quot;for the courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout history, often amid tragic circumstances&quot;.</p><p>It was an apparent nod to the massacres the Armenians suffered at the hands of the Ottoman troops in 1915-1916, which has been qualified as genocide by around 30 countries, although Turkey firmly rejects the term.</p>

<p>Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lebanon on Sunday with a message of peace for the crisis-hit nation, still reeling from a war between Israel and Hezbollah and the conflict's lingering aftereffects.</p>

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lebanon on Sunday with a message of peace for the crisis-hit nation, still reeling from a war between Israel and Hezbollah and the conflict's lingering aftereffects.

Pope arrives in Lebanon with message of peace for crisis-hit country

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Pope arrives in Lebanon with message of peace for crisis-hit country

Clément Melki and Lisa Golden,

Agence France-Presse

Published December 01, 2025 12:35 AM PHT

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Updated December 01, 2025 06:08 PM PHT

Read More:

Pope Leo

religion

diplomacy

Lebanon

Turkey

Catholic Church

Hezbollah

Joseph Aoun

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