San Francisco Frontiers - Pope urges Lebanese to embrace reconciliation, stay in crisis-hit country

The pope, bearing what he described as a message of peace, had previously visited Turkey, where he kicked off his first overseas tour since being elected leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics in May.

Long hailed as a model of coexistence, multi-confessional Lebanon is nonetheless plagued by sectarian and political rifts, and has seen waves of emigration.

Since 2019 it has been ravaged by successive crises, from an economic collapse widely blamed on official mismanagement and corruption, to a devastating Beirut port blast in 2020, to the recent war between militant group Hezbollah and Israel -- which many Lebanese fear could return.

Leo told officials, diplomats and civil society representatives in a speech at the presidential palace that "there are times when it is easier to flee, or simply more convenient to move elsewhere. It takes real courage and foresight to stay or return to one's own country."

He urged Lebanese people to take up the "path of reconciliation", and called on the country's leaders to place themselves "with commitment and dedication at the service of your people".

No real reconciliation process was undertaken following Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, and the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has deepened divisions.

- 'Promote peace' -

Lebanon rolled out the red carpet and a 21-gun salute for Leo, who was greeted at the airport by children and a brass band as ships at the port sounded their horns. Two Lebanese military aircraft escorted his plane on descent.

Hundreds of people standing along the roadside braved heavy rain to greet the pope along his route to the presidential palace.

"The pope is not just for Christians but for Muslims too, and we love him a lot... We want him to bless our land," said Zahra Nahleh, 19, from Lebanon's war-ravaged south, who was waiting to welcome the pontiff.

Leo told journalists on the plane that his tour had "a special theme of... being a messenger of peace, of wanting to promote peace throughout the region".

He went on to emphasise that theme in his speech at the presidential palace, using the word "peace" more than 20 times, without mentioning any specific conflicts, including the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

The two-nation trip is something of a test for the first American pope, whose understated style contrasts with that of his charismatic and impulsive predecessor, Francis.

Although Leo's four-day visit drew little attention in Turkey, a Muslim-majority nation whose Christian community numbers only around 100,000, his 48-hour stopover has been eagerly awaited in Lebanon, a religiously diverse country of around six million people.

Lebanon's last papal visitor was Benedict XVI in 2012.

Youth scouting groups affiliated with Hezbollah waited to welcome the pope along the road in Beirut's southern suburbs, where the Iran-backed militants hold sway and which Israel pounded during the war last year.

Posters of the group's slain chief Hassan Nasrallah appeared near billboards welcoming the pontiff in the area, which Israel struck again last week, killing Hezbollah's military chief.

Despite last year's truce, Israel has kept up regular raids on Lebanon, usually saying it is striking Hezbollah targets.

On Saturday, Hezbollah had urged the pope to reject Israeli "injustice and aggression" against Lebanon.

- 'Duty for humanity' -

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that "safeguarding Lebanon" -- a unique model of coexistence among different religious communities -- "is a duty for humanity".

"If this model disappears, nowhere else can replace it," said Aoun, the only Christian head of state in the Arab world.

Christians play a key political role in Lebanon, where power is shared among the country's religious communities, but they have seen their numbers dwindle, particularly due to emigration.

In Turkey, Leo's visit focused on calls for greater unity among different branches of Christianity.

On his last day there, he went to the Armenian Cathedral expressing encouragement for the largest of Turkey's Christian communities -- with some 50,000 members -- and thanking God "for the courageous Christian witness of the Armenian people throughout history, often amid tragic circumstances".

It was an apparent nod to the massacres the Armenians suffered at the hands of the Ottoman troops in 1915-1916, which has been qualified as genocide by around 30 countries, although Turkey firmly rejects the term.

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C.Diaz--SFF