Pope Leo XIV provided a silent prayer on the website of the 2020 Beirut port explosion as he wraps up his first overseas journey to Turkey and Lebanon on Tuesday.
He additionally met with relations of among the 218 victims of the blast on Aug. 4, 2020. The explosion tore by way of Beirut and did billions of {dollars} in harm after lots of of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.
No official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was simply the newest disaster after many years of corruption and monetary crimes. When he arrived in Lebanon on Sunday, Leo urged the nation’s political leaders to pursue the reality as a method of peace and reconciliation within the nation.
Leo sought to deliver a message of peace to Lebanon because it copes with years of financial and political crises.
The American pope opened his last day with a go to to the De La Croix hospital, which focuses on look after folks with psychological issues, and can shut with a Mass alongside the Beirut waterfront earlier than returning to Rome.
On Monday, he presided over a gathering of Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim non secular leaders, celebrating the nation’s interfaith coexistence as a potent message of peace within the conflict-plagued area.
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Individuals look forward to the arrival of Pope Leo XIV to go to the De la Croix hospital in Jal el Dib, Lebanon, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. Credit score: AP/Domenico Stinellis
Pope ends Mass with a name for peace
Concluding a public Mass on Beirut’s waterfront, Pope Leo XIV made one other name for peace.
“The Center East wants new approaches with a purpose to reject the mindset of revenge and violence, to beat political, social and spiritual divisions, and to open new chapters within the title of reconciliation and peace,” he mentioned. “The trail of mutual hostility and destruction within the horror of struggle has been traveled too lengthy with the deplorable outcomes which can be earlier than everybody’s eyes.”
He urged Christians within the area to have braveness and religion.
“Pricey Christians of the Levant, when the outcomes of your efforts for peace are gradual in coming, I invite you to elevate your gaze to the Lord who’s coming,” Leo mentioned.
A nun appears to be like from a balcony as folks look forward to the arrival of Pope Leo XIV on the De la Croix hospital in Jal el Dib, Lebanon, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. Credit score: AP/Hassan Ammar
The Mass drew an estimated 150,000 folks, capping off Leo’s three-day go to to Lebanon earlier than a return flight to Rome from the Beirut airport.
Leo requires ‘justice and fraternity’ in Lebanon throughout mass
Pope Leo XIV has known as for Lebanon to be a “residence of justice and fraternity” and a “prophetic signal of peace” within the area.
Leo made the enchantment throughout Mass alongside the Beirut waterfront on the ultimate day of his go to.
In his homily, Leo acknowledged the various crises which have scarred Lebanon, citing the 2020 Beirut port blast, financial crises and “the violence and conflicts which have reawakened historical fears.”
He mentioned it’s pure to really feel “paralyzed by powerlessness within the face of evil and oppressed by so many tough conditions.”
However the pope urged Lebanon’s folks to not be resigned and to search out methods to stay hopeful and grateful. He insisted, although, that justice was a part of the equation.
“Allow us to forged off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our spiritual confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon,” he mentioned. “A Lebanon the place peace and justice reign, the place all acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters.”
“Lebanon, arise,” he mentioned. “Be a house of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic signal of peace for the entire of the Levant!”
Hundreds prepared to listen to pope ship mass
Tens of hundreds of worshippers packed into an open space on the Beirut waterfront the place Pope Leo XIV is about to ship a public mass earlier than heading again to Rome.
The gang included Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and different authorities leaders, in addition to folks from all walks of life.
“I feel the pope’s go to will give the Lebanese folks hope, hope that there will likely be peace, as a result of now we have been ready for peace for 50 years,” mentioned Gabriel Raji, who was among the many attendees.
Lebanon fought a brutal 15-year civil struggle that started 50 years in the past in 1975. Since then, it has confronted a number of different conflicts together with wars between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The newest nominally ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November 2024. Since then, Israel has continued to launch near-daily airstrikes that it says goal to cease Hezbollah from rebuilding.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s state-run Nationwide Information Company reported extra Israeli strikes on the southern village of Aitaroun.
Pope prays at website of Beirut port explosion
Pope Leo XIV prayed on the website of a lethal 2020 Beirut port explosion that has grow to be an emblem of Lebanon’s dysfunction, impunity and scars.
Kin of among the 218 folks killed by the blast held up images of their family members as Leo arrived. They stood silently by the shell of the final standing grain silo destroyed by the blast and the piles of burned automobiles torched in its wake.
Leo stood in silent prayer among the many wreckage.
The Aug. 4, 2020, explosion tore by way of Beirut and did billions of {dollars} in harm after lots of of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.
5 years on, these households are nonetheless searching for justice. No official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was simply the newest proof of impunity after many years of corruption and monetary crimes.
Leo speaks for the susceptible
Pope Leo XIV has inspired the Lebanese folks to recollect essentially the most susceptible amongst them.
Leo made an emotional go to Tuesday to the De La Croix hospital, which cares primarily for folks with psychological issues.
The mom superior of the congregation that runs the hospital, Mom Marie Makhlouf, was overcome as she welcomed the pope. She instructed him that her hospital cares for the “forgotten souls, burdened by their loneliness.”
In his remarks to the sufferers and workers, Leo mentioned the power stands as a reminder to all of humanity.
“We can not neglect those that are most fragile. We can not conceive of a society that races forward at full velocity clinging to the false myths of wellbeing, whereas on the similar time ignoring so many conditions of poverty and vulnerability,” he mentioned.
Leo is on the ultimate day of his go to to Lebanon, his first overseas journey as pope.
Pope greeted at hospital
Pope Leo XIV has arrived at one of many Center East’s oldest psychiatric hospitals, the De La Croix hospital in Beirut’s northern suburb of Jal el-Dib, the place he’ll meet with sufferers in addition to nuns who work on the facility.
The highway main main there was lined by hundreds of ladies, males and kids who waved Lebanese and Vatican flags. The pope was then obtained upon arrival by officers on the hospital, the place about 175 nuns work.
The hospital go to is the pope’s first exercise Tuesday, which is his third and final day in Lebanon.
The hospital has a capability of 1,200 sufferers and presently has about 700 sufferers principally being handled for psychological well being sickness and epilepsy and a few for drug dependancy.
A corridor inside was filled with lots of of sufferers and scores of nuns
“There was a rainbow over the monastery of the cross right this moment. It is a signal of grace and blessing. We is not going to say something greater than God’s phrase,” mentioned Jihan Khoriaty, a nun who works on the the De La Croix hospital. “The phrase of nature right this moment was the largest good signal.”
Member of the family speaks about 2020 Beirut explosion
Forward of his massive public mass within the Lebanese capital’s seaside waterfront on Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV will maintain a silent prayer close by on the website of the lethal Beirut port explosion with some households of the 218 victims.
The blast on Aug. 4, 2020, was fueled by lots of of tons of ammonium nitrate saved within the port and flattened a number of neighborhoods.
Leo’s late predecessor, Pope Francis, brazenly advocated for the households.
Mireille Khoury, who misplaced her 15-year-old son Elias, is likely one of the relations who will be part of the prayer.
“I cannot say that this anger will absolutely simply disappear,” Khoury instructed The Related Press earlier than Leo’s go to. “However I feel it should give some form of rest of this anger that’s in my coronary heart till justice is served.”
An ongoing probe that has implicated an extended checklist of politicians, judicial and safety officers continues to face obstructions as households push for worldwide help together with from the Vatican.
Lebanon won’t ever heal from its wounds with out justice and the port blast probe might set a precedent, Khoury mentioned.
“Justice is the idea of constructing any nation,” she mentioned. “Our youngsters have been killed of their houses. They have been killed as a result of somebody stored (ammonium) nitrate in the principle port of the town close to a residential space.”
Crowd awaits pope at De La Croix hospital
Amongst these ready to greet Pope Leo on the De La Croix hospital are throngs of youngsters dressed as Swiss Guards in colourful gold, crimson and blue ceremonial uniforms.
Seamstresses labored for 3 months to make the outfits for the kids, Sister Teresa Azar mentioned.
The gang additionally consists of cardinals of their crimson cassocks and a boy dressed because the pope in white.
Pope Leo to carry silent prayer at Beirut blast website
Pope Leo XIV will supply a silent prayer on the website of the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Leo additionally was anticipated to satisfy with relations of among the 218 victims of the blast, which tore by way of Beirut and did billions of {dollars} in harm after lots of of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse.
5 years on, no official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was simply the newest disaster after many years of corruption and monetary crimes.
