ISTANBUL – Concluding his notable journey in Turkey, Pope Leo XIV prepared to embark on a significant mission to Lebanon, aspiring to deliver a message of hope to its embattled citizens and to fortify a vital Christian community at the heart of the Middle East.

In Istanbul, before departing for Beirut, Pope Leo engaged in two pivotal engagements. First, he participated in a solemn prayer at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral. This was followed by a divine liturgy alongside Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the global Orthodox Christian community. This gathering was a response to Bartholomew’s invitation to honor a significant Christian anniversary, which was the main reason for Leo’s visit.

Amidst a haze of incense and the harmonious chants of a male choir, Leo made a ceremonial entrance into the Armenian cathedral. He commended the Armenian people for their “courageous Christian witness throughout history,” acknowledging the challenges they faced, particularly during the tragic events of World War I, when Armenians suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

Pope Francis had previously labeled these atrocities as “genocide,” a term that had provoked the ire of Turkey, which refutes the genocide characterization. On Turkish soil, Pope Leo chose a more tactful approach in his remarks.

As he embarks on the second phase of his first papal journey, Leo’s visit to Lebanon comes at a critical juncture for the nation, which has been grappling with a series of relentless crises. This visit also fulfills a commitment made by Pope Francis, who had long desired to visit Lebanon but was hindered by his declining health.

Francis often quoted St. John Paul II, who in 1989 said Lebanon was more than just a country, it was a “message” — a message of fraternity and coexistence. Under Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the country’s president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite.

A Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian, Lebanon has always been a priority for the Vatican, a bulwark for Christians throughout the region. After years of conflict, Christian communities that date from the time of the Apostles have shrunk.

Leo was expected to try to encourage Lebanese who believe their leaders have failed them, and to encourage Lebanese Christians to stay or, if they have already moved abroad, to come home.

“The Holy Father is coming at a very difficult moment for Lebanon and for our region,” said Bishop George, archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut. Lebanese are worried about the future, he said, and still fear a possible return to all-out war with Israel.

“In this difficult moment, the pope’s visit is a sign of hope. It shows that Lebanon is not forgotten,” he told reporters ahead of the visit.

A series of crises and no accountability

In 2019, the country’s currency and banking system collapsed and many Lebanese saw their savings evaporate. The financial crisis drove shortages of electricity, fuel and medicine.

Another disaster followed in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at the Beirut port detonated in an explosion that blasted through the surrounding neighborhoods, killing 218 people, wounding thousands more and causing billions of dollars in damage.

The highlight of Leo’s Lebanese visit will come on his last day, Dec. 2, when he spends time in silent prayer at the site of the Aug. 4, 2020, blast and meets with some of its victims.

Lebanese citizens were enraged by the blast, which appeared to be the result of government negligence, coming on top of the economic crisis. But an investigation has repeatedly stalled, and five years on, no official has been convicted.

There are hopes among Lebanese that Leo will demand accountability from Lebanon’s political class and insist that there can be no peace without truth and justice.

Another important moment will come when Leo meets with young Lebanese. He is expected to give them words of encouragement, amid the decades-long flight abroad, while also acknowledging their disillusionment over the failures of generations before them.

A papal visit amid ongoing conflict

After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah entered into a low-level conflict with Israel that escalated into a full-fledged war in September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and causing widespread destruction.

Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that nominally ended the conflict two months later, Israel continues to launch near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding. Many Lebanese fear a return to all-out war.

Ahead of Leo’s arrival, Hezbollah urged the pope to express his “rejection to injustice and aggression” that the country is being subjected to. It was a reference to the Israeli strikes. The group also urged its supporters to line up along the road the papal convoy will take from the airport to the presidential palace to pay their respects.

Hezbollah — a primarily Shiite group — has allied with several Christian political groups in the country, including the Free Patriotic Movement and Marada Movement.

However, the Christian party with the largest parliamentary bloc, the Lebanese Forces, is an opponent of Hezbollah and has criticized the group for pulling the country into a war with Israel.

Syrian Christians also look to the papal visit for hope

In neighboring Syria, hundreds of thousands of Christians fled during the country’s 14 years of civil war.

The country’s former autocratic leader, Bashar Assad, was ousted in an offensive led by Islamist insurgents last December. Since then, there have been outbreaks of sectarian violence and some attacks on religious minorities, including a suicide attack on a church in Damascus in June.

While the new government has condemned attacks on minorities, many accuse it of looking the other way or being unable to control allied armed groups.

A delegation of some 300 Syrian Christians, headed by a Greek Melkite Catholic priest, was set to travel to Lebanon to join a meeting between Leo and youth groups and pray in a public mass on Beirut’s waterfront.

“We are in need of someone like the pope to come and give us hope as Christians” at a time of “fear of an unknown future,” said 24-year-old Dima Awwad, one of the delegation members. “We wish that the pope would come to visit Syria as he visited Lebanon, to reassure the people and to feel that we are present as eastern Christians and that we need to be in this place.”

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Sewell reported from Beirut.

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