Pope Leo XIV prays at St. Charbel’s tomb in Lebanon, entrusts nation to saint’s intercession and calls for “conversion of hearts” for true peace.
Newsroom (01/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) Pope Leo XIV on Sunday became the first pontiff ever to pray at the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf, the 19th-century Lebanese Maronite hermit whose intercession is credited with countless healings and who is venerated by Christians and Muslims alike.
The Pope arrived at the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, where he was welcomed at the main entrance by the monastery’s superior, the Superior General of the Lebanese Maronite Order, Abbot Mahfouz Hady, and Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and First Lady.
Kneeling in silence inside the small stone grotto that houses the saint’s tomb, Pope Leo XIV then delivered a brief address in French, reflecting on the hidden life of the hooded, bearded monk whose images lined the winding mountain roads alongside papal and Lebanese flags.
“The Holy Spirit formed him so that he could teach those who live without God how to pray, those who live immersed in noise how to be silent, those who live ostentatiously how to be modest, and those who seek riches how to be poor,” the Pope said.
In a nation battered since 2019 by economic collapse, hyperinflation, the catastrophic 2020 Beirut port explosion, failing public services, and renewed conflict along its southern border, the pontiff linked St. Charbel’s ascetic witness to Lebanon’s present suffering.
“We ask for peace,” Pope Leo declared. “We implore it especially for Lebanon and for the whole Levant. But we know—and the saints remind us—that there is no peace without the conversion of hearts.”
He formally entrusted “the needs of the Church, Lebanon and the world” to St. Charbel’s intercession, urging the saint to “help us to turn to God and ask for the gift of conversion for all of us.”
The ceremony concluded with the recitation of a prayer to St. Charbel, a papal blessing, and the presentation by Pope Leo of a handcrafted silver-bronze votive lamp. “In offering this lamp,” he said, “I entrust Lebanon and its people to the protection of Saint Charbel, that they may always walk in the light of Christ.”
Outside, hundreds braved wind and heavy rain for a glimpse of the Pope. Families, youth, and religious waved flags while posters of both Pope Leo XIV and the hermit saint fluttered together.
“I am here to see the Pope in a place where a saint resides, a saint that represents Lebanon,” said Majd Samia, noting the coincidence that Pope Leo was elected on May 8, the birthday of St. Charbel. “He gives us hope that the Church is with us, she prays for us and she knows the pain of the Lebanese people.”
Elias Maroun, a Lebanese-American father who arrived at 6 a.m. with his two young children—one named Charbel—emphasized the shrine’s significance beyond the Catholic community. “St. Charbel is important for all the Lebanese, not just for the Christians and Catholics; everyone comes here and asks for help,” he said, underscoring the saint’s appeal among Lebanon’s Muslim population as well.
Sunday’s visit marked the second day of Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to Lebanon, a trip intended to bring encouragement to a Christian minority facing existential challenges and to reaffirm the Church’s solidarity with a nation in prolonged crisis.
- Raju Hasmukh with file from Vatican News
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