Leo XIV: Lebanon from 'message' to 'mission' with the courage to change history
“Let us cast off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter,” Leo said to Lebanon’s leaders. For the pontiff, peace must be both the goal and the means. About 150,000 people attended the final Mass on the waterfront. Last night, dinner was held at the nunciature with some Muslim religious leaders.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – The traditional notion of Lebanon as a “message” seems to have been replaced by that of Lebanon as a “mission” following Leo XIV first apostolic journey to the Middle East country from 30 November to 2 December, following a first stop in Turkey.
This mission, which might seem difficult in human eyes, means bearing a “prophetic sign of peace” and bringing “the aroma of Christ” to all the Levant, an East turned into an arena where, as in ancient Rome, men, nations, and borders are at the mercy of wild beasts.
In the battle that awaits them, the pope urged the Lebanese, young people in particular, to arm themselves with "courage" capable of "transforming history" and shutting the lions' mouths.
The word "courage" was heard aloud from loudspeakers installed on the Beirut waterfront by approximately 150,000 people who attended the final Mass, according to an estimate by the AFP news agency.
The solemn ceremony included, in the front rows, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and their respective wives, as well as almost all of the country's leading figures, both Christian and Muslim.
The religious service that concluded the visit to Lebanon was celebrated after two stops, the first moving visit to the convent of the Sisters of the Cross, which houses a psychiatric hospital, and the second to the site of the explosion of more than a thousand tonnes of ammonium nitrate on 4 August 2020, which devastated the neighbourhoods near the port of Beirut, killing some 235 people, and leaving many permanently disabled.
The pope prayed in silence and lit a flame at the foot of a newly designed memorial that marks what many consider a “crime" and not simply a "tragedy”.
Five years later, an investigation is still underway to determine the cause of the explosion and punish those responsible, but several obstacles have been placed by Hezbollah and its Shia allies on the path of investigators.
Meeting with young people at the Maronite patriarchal seat
The previous evening, Leo XIV had stirred the enthusiasm of nearly 20,000 young people who crowded the streets and square in front of the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate. Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara al-Rahi outlined the theme of the evening in his welcoming address.
“You are looking at a generation that seeks a future in their own country,” the prelate said. “Our young people want to build a new Lebanon where faith is a strength and pluralism a richness. The youth of Lebanon love you and await you with fervent hearts, eager to hear a word of hope from you amidst the trying times they are living through.”
In his response, the pontiff noted that, “Lebanon's history is woven with glorious pages, but it is also marked by deep wounds, slow to heal. These wounds have causes that go beyond national borders and are intertwined with highly complex social and political dynamics.
“Dear young people, perhaps you regret inheriting a world torn by wars and disfigured by social injustice. Yet there is hope, and this hope resides within you,” Leo said. Reminding young people that they are rich in “hope” and “time,” he urged them to work for peace with the tools of peace.
“Peace is not real when it is the product of vested interests. It is true only when I do unto others as I would have them do unto me,” he explained. Echoing the words of John Paul II, he said that there is “No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness”.
The evening, which featured various dances and stage performances by young people, as well as testimonies, ended with a shared commitment to "remain" in Lebanon, despite the challenge of such a choice.
“The dream entrusted to you”
Leo reiterated what he told young people in his address to the country’s leaders, and during the final Mass on the seafront.
“You are the recipients of a rare beauty with which the Lord has adorned your land. At the same time, you are witnesses and victims of how evil, in its various forms, can obscure this splendor,” he said during the meeting.
“The beauty of your country is also overshadowed by the many problems that afflict you, the fragile and often unstable political context, the dramatic economic crisis that weighs heavily upon you and the violence and conflicts that have reawakened ancient fears.”
Yet, “the reason Jesus gives thanks to the Father is not for his extraordinary works, but because he reveals his greatness specifically to the little ones”.
This “very characteristic [. . .] is a shoot, a small branch sprouting from a trunk [. . .]. It is a small sign of hope that promises rebirth when everything else seems to be dying. Indeed, the coming of the Messiah was announced in the smallness of a shoot, because he can only be recognized by the little ones, by those who humbly know how to recognize the hidden details and traces of God in a seemingly lost story.”
Overcoming ethnic and political divisions
“It is also an indication for us, so that we may have eyes capable of recognizing the smallness of the shoot that emerges and grows even in the midst of a painful period,” the pontiff explained.
There are “small lights that shine in the night, small shoots that sprout forth and small seeds planted in the arid garden in this era of history. I think of your sincere and genuine faith, rooted in your families and nourished by Christian schools.”
For Leo, “we are all called to cultivate these shoots, to not be discouraged, to not give in to the logic of violence and the idolatry of money [. . .] Disarming our hearts is the only way to do this. 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. A Lebanon where peace and justice reign”.
Turning words into deeds, after the interfaith meeting, the pontiff invited Muslim religious leaders to dinner at the nunciature.
“This is the dream entrusted to you,” Leo said; “it is what the God of peace places in your hands. Lebanon, stand up! Be a home of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic sign of peace for the whole of the Levant!”
In his final address, before his return journey to Rome, the pontiff evoked the unstable and difficult situation in southern Lebanon (due to Israeli attacks), urging the Lebanese to show “courage” to change the course of history, but always through dialogue and "the tools of peace”.
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07/10/2025 18:04
