Pope Leo XIV ended his stay in Lebanon with what he termed “a heartfelt appeal: may the attacks and hostilities cease”. Source: OSV News.
“We must recognise that armed struggle brings no benefit,” he said at the Beirut airport before returning to Rome yesterday.
“While weapons are lethal, negotiation, mediation and dialogue are constructive. Let us all choose peace as a way, and not just as a goal!”
Throughout his three-day stay in Lebanon, the Pope repeatedly called for peace, justice and a concerted effort by all Lebanese to build a better future for themselves and their families.
In fact, after Mass and before praying the Angelus yesterday, he implored “the international community once again to spare no effort in promoting processes of dialogue and reconciliation” and he appealed “to those who hold political and social authority here and in all countries marked by war and violence: Listen to the cry of your peoples who are calling for peace.”
“The Middle East needs new approaches in order to reject the mindset of revenge and violence, to overcome political, social and religious divisions, and to open new chapters in the name of reconciliation and peace,” he said. “We need to change course. We need to educate our hearts for peace.”
At the airport farewell ceremony, he expressed hope for the involvement of “the entire Middle East in this spirit of fraternity and commitment to peace, including those who currently consider themselves enemies”.
The Pope began the day visiting a Catholic-run psychiatric hospital and then praying at the Beirut port, site of the chemical explosion in 2020 that killed more than 200 people, injured some 7,000 and left an estimated 300,000 people displaced.
“I was deeply moved by my brief visit to the Port of Beirut, where an explosion devastated the area, not to mention many lives,” the Pope said at the Mass he celebrated afterward on the waterfront nearby.
“I prayed for all the victims, and I carry with me the pain, and the thirst for truth and justice, of so many families, of an entire country,” the Pope said.
Family members of those killed when improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded joined him for the prayer at the site where there are still mountains of rubble, piles of burnt-out cars and heaps of tattered clothing and cloth.
FULL STORY
Choose the way of peace, Pope says as he leaves Lebanon (By Cindy Wooden, OSV News)
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