With Lebanon still reeling from decades of crisis — including the 2020 port blast, economic collapse and recent conflict — the Pope’s visit is being seen as a powerful signal of solidarity and a call for peace.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai said Leo’s trip will carry a “message of peace and hope,” urging all Lebanese, Christian and Muslim alike, to preserve their shared national identity.
The Pope will pray silently at the Beirut port memorial, honouring the hundreds killed in the blast, and meet religious leaders as part of his broader interfaith outreach during the visit.
Pope Leo will make his first trip outside Italy as head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, travelling to Turkey and Lebanon on a six-day visit centred on peace, interfaith dialogue and efforts to strengthen unity among long-divided Christian churches.
The first U.S. pope, Leo will deliver his inaugural speeches to foreign governments and visit culturally sensitive sites during the November 27 to December 2 tour. His first stop is Turkey, from November 27 to 30, where he will join Patriarch Bartholomew — the spiritual leader of 260 million Orthodox Christians — for multiple events in Istanbul, underscoring a renewed push for closer ties between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Peace is expected to dominate the Pope’s agenda in Lebanon, home to the highest proportion of Christians in the Middle East and a country grappling with overlapping crises. His visit comes days after Israel killed Hezbollah’s top military commander in an airstrike on a Beirut suburb, despite a year-old U.S.-brokered truce.
Lebanese leaders, burdened by political paralysis, economic collapse and the strain of hosting nearly one million Syrian and Palestinian refugees, hope the papal visit will draw global attention to the country’s fragile situation.
Security concerns briefly came into focus in October when Queen Rania of Jordan asked Pope Leo during a Vatican meeting whether he felt it was safe to travel to Lebanon. “Well, we’re going,” he replied, signalling his determination to follow through with the trip.
Foreign travel has become a defining feature of the modern papacy, allowing popes to draw worldwide audiences, deliver influential foreign-policy messages and engage directly in global diplomacy — a role Pope Leo appears keen to embrace from the outset.
